Ross County 4 - 1 Morton

Ross County 4 - Craig (6), Daal (42, 62),Dowie (84)
Morton 1 - Weatherson (77)

Att: 1396

Another trip to Dingwall - another hammering.

Davie Irons continued to drop any striker who misses a chance by bringing in Iain Russell for last week's villian Peter Weatherson (it's interesting to note that Brian Wake doesn't seem to be dropped often - he's so far away from scoring a goal he doesn't even get chances to miss them). Alex Walker disappeared from the squad, Ryan Harding moved to right-back (?!?)and Allan McManus started at centre-half.



County took only six minutes to get the ball rolling. Steven Craig collected a Martin Scott pass then was allowed to turn and hook a shot across Cuthbert into the far corner.

Morton had two excellent opportunities to level but Ryan McGuffie headed both straight at Tony Bullock.

Dyron Daal - Craig's partner in Ross County's crap strikeforce - made it two in the 42nd minute when he headed a Marc McCulloch cross past Cuthbert.



It was evident that Morton were in for another pasting by this point and frustrations started to boil over on the terraces. One group of fans rounded on Ryan Harding - I heard one shout of "fuck off Hard-on". Another group of fans responded by telling them to get behind the team and this turned into a bit of a scuffle. If the team showed half as much fight or passion as the fans then we wouldn't be in this mess.


If it wasn't for Kevin Cuthbert and Dominic Shimmin then this would've been a cricket score. This was particularly evident in the 55th minute when Cuthbert saved a Steven Craig penalty after Allan McManus had received his marching orders for a deliberate handball on the line.

The penalty miss only delayed the inevitable as Daal made it three with another header seven minutes later. The fact Dyron Daal managed to put two by us shows how bad we are. He is, in my opinion, a big donkey of a striker. So much of a donkey that Alisdair Fraser's Scottish Sun match report was hooked on Daal ending his goal drought: "DYRON DAAL marked his 25th birthday with a dream double as he ended his goal drought to steer County to the Challenge Cup final.Daal has been the butt of jokes in the Dingwall dressing room having fired blanks apart from two goals early in the season."

We managed to pull one back in the 77th minute but even that was more about luck than skill or ability. Peter Weatherson, who came on as a substitute, took a free-kick 20 yards from goal. The ball smashed into the wall and this wrong footed Bullock as the deflection put the ball into the opposite corner. 3-1 and some optimistic fans started to sing of how we'd win 4-3.

Seven minutes later they were singing about winning 5-4 as Andy Dowie headed home an Adam Strachan corner to make it 4-1

4-1 is how it finished and this rodgering meant that Morton had now lost in four successive Challenge Cup Semi-Finals.

As the fans filtered out of Victoria Park there were shouts and chants against the manager and players. One shout was louder than most - 'Time to go Davie'.

Morton (4-4-2):

1. Cuthbert - 7
2. Harding - 4 (12. Paartalu - 61 mins)
3. Smith - 5
4. Shimmin - 7
5. McManus (c) - 6
6. Masterton - 5 (15. Weatherson - 48 mins)
7. McGuffie - 5
8. Jenkins - 5
9. Wake - 5 (14. Finlayson - 56 mins)
10. Russell - 6
11. McAlister - 6

Subs Not Used:

16. MacGregor
20. Stewart

Booked: Cuthbert, Smith

Sent Off: McManus (55)

Cuthbert
Harding Shimmin McManus Smith
McGuffie Masterton Jenkins McAlister
Wake Russell

Ross County: Bullock, McCulloch, Keddie, Dowie, Boyd (Watt 76), Strachan, Hart (Gardyne 71), Brittain, Daal (Higgins 83), Craig, Scott

Subs Not Used: Lawson, Soutar.

Booked:


My man of the match: Kevin Cuthbert

Sponsor's man of the match:


Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)














Greenock Telegraph match report

BBC match report

The Scottish Sun match report