Calum Elliot will have to wait to get his Dundee loan spell up and running.
The Hearts striker, who joined the Dark Blues for a month, lasted less than a minute of his Dens debut last weekend before being carried off with a knee injury following a challenge made by Raith Rovers defender Willie Dyer.
Subsequent tests showed the damage was not as bad as first feared, but Elliot will miss Saturday’s trip to Cappielow to face Morton.
”Calum is ruled out, unfortunately,” confirmed Dundee boss Barry Smith. ”He has tried to run on the knee, but when I spoke to him he said it was sore. So I think it is correct to be cautious.
”Being cautious is nothing to do with his being a loan player because once he joined us he was just one of the boys. However, you do have to do the right thing by the player, and that means leaving him out this time.
”We would never force anybody into playing.”
Dundee could also be without central defender Rhys Weston, who lasted 20 minutes more than Elliot against Raith before hyper-extending his knee.
”I would consider Rhys to be doubtful at this stage,” added Smith. ”If he doesn’t make it then it gives an opportunity to someone else and Craig McKeown came in and played the majority of the game on Saturday, so we have cover.”
Striker Graham Bayne is still sidelined, but Steven Milne trained on Thursday and Smith is optimistic he will be fit to face the Greenock men.
Smith highlighted his side’s record on the road as a reason to be upbeat about their chances.
”It is a difficult place to go to, but I have a good, experienced team that got a fine win on Saturday,” he added. ”Our away record is as good as anybody’s and we are going down there to win, not to be defensive.
”Morton have decent experience up front in guys like Andy Jackson and Peter Macdonald, who have played in the Premier League. We are aware of them and we must make sure we don’t allow them to dictate to us.
”Morton made a great start to the season and they got a great result down at last weekend but we got a fine result ourselves. We will be going there with confidence but not arrogance.”