Arthurlie 2 - McKeown (6), Docherty (65)Morton XI 0
Tonight a Morton second string were easily taken apart by Barrhead junior side Arthurlie.
The Morton team featured a mix of youth, fringe and trialist players but were out played and out fought by their opponents. Although this match was only a pre-season run out there were no real positives to take, only new concerns particularly that the performance showed that our squad is threadbare and those on the fringes are certainly not good enough for the 1st division. In fact I'd have doubts that some of our players are of junior standard.
Arthurlie took the lead in the sixth minute when tall defender Frank McKeown crashed home at the back post.
Morton had the chance to equalise in the 61st minute after French trialist Fabrice Seidou was fouled in the box. Young striker Brian Graham stepped up and smacked his penalty against the base of the post and out to safety. I've uploaded a video of the penalty from my phone to youtube - again apologies for the quality.
Arthurlie made Morton pay for this miss by scoring four minutes later. Good combination play down the left led to a far post cross which was easily nodded home by substitute Jamie Docherty (picture - Docherty celebrating with Gilbride and No. 4 Trialist throwing his hands in the air).
Morton were not at the races in this match and rarely threatened while Arthurlie had a few more chances and should have won by more than two. Former Rangers youngster John Johnston passed up an open goal and saved Morton more embarrassment.
The performance of Adam Coakley was particularly disappointing - if Jim McInally thinks this boy is the answer to our striking problems he has to have a serious look at whether he should be a manager or not. Another point to note was that Arthurlie's tannoy announcer read out Morton's number four and Seidou as trialists but read out Coakley's name.
Fabrice Seidou came on as a substitute in the second half and apart from winning the penalty didn't do enough to earn a contract in my opinion.
The one positive I did take was the performance of Darren McGeough who displayed a good range of passing and looked quite composed on the ball.
Morton Team
1. McGurn - 6
2. Black - 6
3. McLeod - 6 (15. Phillips, 70 mins)
4. Trialist - 6
5. Gilbride - 5
6. Keenan (c) - 6 (12. Laughran - 6, 57 mins)
7. MacGregor - 5 (14. Mitchell - 5, 28 mins)
8. McGeough - 7
9. Graham - 6
10. Coakley - 4 (16. Kerrigan, 70 mins)
11. McAnespie - 6 (17. Seidou - 6, 46 mins)
Arthurlie : Evans, Ballantyne, Williams, Baxter, McKeown, Gallacher, Johnston, Stevie Aitken (ex-Morton), Bradford, Hughes, McFadden. Subs Wardle, Shields, Winter, Blair, Docherty
More pictures and a small match report at : http://www.arthurlie.com/
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