Greenock Morton boss Jim Duffy has called on the Scottish FA to mirror their English counterparts and adopt numbers on balls to avoid a repeat of the "embarrassing" mishap that halted this year's quarter-final draw.

Scottish FA president Alan McRae stopped proceedings after one of the plastic balls opened prematurely.

Dundee United and Celtic had already been drawn to face each other in the last eight, with the winners of a replay between Dundee and Dumbarton being drawn at home for tie two before the error was made.

Former Celtic player Lubomir Moravcik appeared to be responsible for the technical fault, with footage showing the ball containing Greenock Morton bursting open when he was stirring the balls in the pot.

After starting again, Duffy's side were drawn to face favourites Celtic in Glasgow. Now the Ton boss wants to see a change to avoid any further confusion.

He told STV: "I think it’s simple, change it to numbers that correlate to teams – like they do in the FA Cup down south.

"Then there’ll be no mishaps. When you twist these balls, they can become difficult to open. It would be a lot easier with numbers.

"When the draw was being made, it was the embarrassment of it all. It was live on the TV in front of a nation.... I had no idea it was Morton’s name that had come out of one of the balls."

Morton ran out 1-0 winners when they last faced Celtic in the League Cup in September 2013 under Allan Moore.

And Duffy is hoping he can inspire his side to a repeat, adding: "Obviously it’s the toughest draw. We are amongst the lowest ranked team and we are playing the highest ranked team.

"It’s a fantastic tie for the club and the players. It should help the players that they have been to places like Ibrox and Easter Road this season before going to Celtic Park next month."

Ronny Deila's men are fighting to secure a domestic double and Duffy believes they will go on to claim silverware this term.

He said: "Celtic’s aspirations will be to win the double, they have squad full of talented players. A good time to play Celtic is when the league is won.

"They are still top of the league. In the quarter-finals, they are still miles ahead of everyone else.

"I think they’ll win the league, their squad strength will be too much for anyone else."