St. Johnstone 2 - Sheerin (55 pen), Milne (58)Morton 2 - Anderson O.G. (3), Weatherson (82)
Att - 2,517
A point away to St. Johnstone is always a good result however I can't help but feel this was two points dropped especially after going one nil up and then Saints going down to 10 men after Kevin Rutkiewicz's dismissal for two bookable offences.
The opening goal was a bizarre own goal by Steven Anderson. Main gave the ball to Stanic, who passed to Anderson. Anderson rolled the ball back to Main who failed to react as the ball triclked into the net. I missed most of the incident at the game as I was too busy watching two Morton fans getting ejected for standing up. I turned around just in time to see the ball roll into the net. From the highlights on http://www.gmfc.net/ it seemed to me that Main should have still got to the back pass. The only explanation I could think of was that he turned away from play.
Iain Russell worked hard but as seems to becoming the norm he missed a couple of great chances. One a header straight at Main, the other a shot dragged across the face of goal.
At half-time former Morton player and new Saints gaffer Derek McInnes subbed himself in what I can only assume was to allow him take a step back from the game and analyze what was going wrong for his team. It seemed to work as Saints came out and quickly turned the deficit into a lead.
David McGurn almost saved penalty Paul Sheerin's penalty after Harding appeared to pull back Steven 'Savo' Milne who had ghosted behind him on his blind side. Some fans thought the penalty was a poor decision but I thought it was a penalty. Harding's attempt to deal with the long diagonal ball was woeful and from where I was sitting it looked like he pulled Milne back knocking him off balance.
Shortly afterwards Saints took the lead when Milne slotted home an angled finish after poor defending allowed him time and space in the box.
The game turned in the 65th minute when former Aberdeen defender Kevin Rutkeiwicz was dismissed after a second booking. It didn't turn immediately however as St. Johnstone rallied and swept forward on numerous occasions forcing a series of corners.
Morton's equaliser arrived in the 82nd minute. Chris Millar - Morton's oustanding player for weeks now and again on Saturday - drove an angled cross to the back post where the largely anonymous Peter Weatherson arrived to cushion a header high across goal and over Alan Main into the far corner. The celebrations are pictured below.
After taking the lead and playing against 10 men for half an hour you should probably expect to win a match but at the end of the day a point away to St. Johnstone is, as I said at the beginning a good result.
Morton (4-5-1):
1. McGurn - 6
2. Shields - 6 (14. Templeman - 63 mins)
3. Walker- 6 (15. Gardyne - 81 mins)
4. Harding - 5
5. Greacen - 6
6. McLaughlin - 6 (12. McAnespie - 75 mins)
7. Millar - 8
8. Finlayson - 6
9. Russell - 7
10. Weatherson - 6
11. McAlister - 6
Subs Not Used:
16. Graham
20. Robinson
Booked: Shields, Finlayson, McAlister
St. Johnstone: Main, Irvine, Stanic, Rutkiewicz, McManus, Anderson, McInnes (Jackson 46), Quinn, Sheerin, Milne (Stewart 86), MacDonald (Lawrie 65) Subs not used: Weatherston, Cuthbert.
Booked: Irvine, Rutkiewicz, Sheerin
Sent off: Rutkiewicz (65)
My man of the match: Chris Millar
Sponsor's man of the match:
Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)
BBC Match report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/7133857.stm
Tele' match report: http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/article.php?sec=2&id=17731
Tele' match reaction: http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/article.php?sec=2&id=17732
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