Morton 2 - 2 Queen Of The South

Morton 2 - Weatherson (33, 90+4)
Queen Of The South 2 - Wilson (7), Arbuckle (19)

Att: 2647



Morton snatched a two all draw when Peter Weatherson scored three seconds from full-time.

There were a couple of changes to the team that beat Partick Thistle; Kevin Cuthbert came back in to replace Colin Stewart after suspension (even though Stewart kept a clean sheet against Thistle) and Ryan McGuffie returned to the starting line-up to replace David MacGregor's who has a slight groin strain. Davie Irons decided to go with a back three instead of the usual four. This meant that McGuffie was in a familiar midfield berth while Stewart Greacen, Dominic Shimmin and Alex Walker formed a back three.



The aforementioned back three was unorthodox to say the least. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not but the back three looked to be set up as a back three without a right back. Shimmin and Greacen played centrally but Walker appeared to be further left than he should be. In fact he seemed to be in the position you would expect if he was playing left-back. I believe that the strange defensive set-up was instrumental in us going two down before the twentieth minute.



The first arrived in the seventh minute. Former Inverness Caledonian Thistle midfielder Barry Wilson strode onto a deflected shot ahead of a static Morton defence and curled the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot. Wilson is a player I've always rated and I was very impressed with his contribution on Saturday. At 36 he still has a lot of the quality he had eight or nine years ago - when I believe he was at his peak. I particularly remember a game up in Inverness in season 1999/00 in which Caley won 6-2 and he scored an absolute beauty and basically ran the game. A couple of weeks back lazy_ar*e_student posted on the Morton messageboard to ask "Could this [Barry Wilson] be a realistic signing for Morton (with his age he may wish to stay up north), would he offer something different to the squad?" , I replied that he was too old - I think I was wrong.

Gary Arbuckle made it two in the 19th minute. The former Clyde and Celtic man who played a trial match for us against Hartlepool this summer smashed one in off the post after a Stevie Tosh flick on. Once again the defence were all at sea and Irons went absolutely mental in the dug out. Shimmin appeared to come in for most of the criticism with the manager gesturing for him to start talking to his team mates and organising the team. However, from what I could see Dominic wasn't happy and gestured back in a way that implied the defence didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. He then started to shake his head - like most of the fans.

Minutes later Morton were forced into a change when Brian Wake replaced James Grady who had a knee knock according to Roger Graham in today's Greenock Telegraph.

Peter Weatherson threw the home side a lifeline with a superb header in the 33rd minute. Kevin Finlayson passed back to Stevie Masterton who whipped in a decent cross from a deep position. The goal was all about the header though as Weatherson had to come away from goal to meet the ball and then angle his neck to glance the ball towards goal. Not only did he manage all this but he also got sufficient power on the header to beat Lee Robinson - who was on loan with us last season - from around the penalty spot. An absolutely superb goal from a player in great form.

The second half was the Steven Nicholls show. The over officious referee was having a terrible match and looked to me like he'd never officiated a match in his life before this one. He was insistent on every free kick being taken from the exact spot the foul was committed something that is technically part of the rules but not really practical if you want a match to flow. In one incident he wanted to make sure a Queen Of The South defensive wall was a sufficient distance from the ball at a free-kick. However, Nicholls only marched eight steps. Allan Jenkins noticed this and went spare at the ref earning himself a booking for dissent. The crowd were also quick to notice this and on his next attempt counted out the ten paces for him to much laughter in the Cowshed afterwards.

One of the main stories to emerge from this match, something that has grabbed all the headlines is the double leg break Arbuckle suffered after a tackle from Shimmin. Queens gaffer Gordon Chisholm hasn't been shy in expressing his fury at Shimmin suggesting that the Englishman had been making dangerous, unorthodox tackles throughout the match. However, in the Cowshed the tackle looked fair, on the Youtube video (above) from what you could see of it the tackle looked fair, in the picture in today's Sun the tackle looked fair and according to a Queens fan on Pie and Bovril the tackle looked fair. In conclusion the tackle was fair and Chisholm should stop bumping his gums. Incidentally, The Dominator was back to his excellent best. The boy should be playing in the SPL or in a decent league in England no dount about it.

From a Morton perspective the real drama was Peter's 94th minute equaliser. After a series of ineffective long throws by Erik Paartalu Greacen decided to take one rather than waste time by allowing the big Aussie to continue running from side to side to take them. This worked a treat because at 6' 5" Paartalu is more effective at causing problems from throw ins by winning flick ons than throwing the ball. His flick fell to Weatherson who swivelled and hooked a stunning shot past Robinson who sank to the turf distraught as the whole Morton team and crowd went mental chasing the goalscorer who had, yet again, scored against his old team. In his last seven games against the Doonhamers he has scored five goals.

This was a decent point to take after going two-nil down but lets hope we get back to a four as soon as possible.

Morton (3-5-2):

1. Cuthbert - 6
2. McGuffie - 5
3. Walker - 6
4. Shimmin - 9
5. Greacen (c) - 7
6. Jenkins - 6 (15. Paartalu - 78 mins)
7. Finlayson - 6
8. Masterton - 7
9. Weatherson - 9
10. Grady - 3 (12. Wake - 21 mins - 6)
11. McAlister - 5

Subs Not Used:

14. Russell
16. Smith
20. Stewart

Booked: Masterton (not Finlayson as the BBC says), Jenkins

Cuthbert
Greacen Shimmin Walker
Finlayson Jenkins Masterton McGuffie McAlister
Grady Weatherson

QotS: Robinson, Reid, Harris, MacFarlane, Barr, Thomson, Wilson (Scally 87), Tosh (O'Connor 70), Arbuckle (Weatherston 83), Robertson, McQuilken

Subs Not Used: Dobbie, Halliwell.

Booked: McQuilken, Harris, MacFarlane.

My man of the match: Peter Weatherson

Sponsor's man of the match: Dominic Shimmin


Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)

BBC match report

The Greenock Telegraph - match report

The Greenock Telegraph - match reaction

The Scottish Sun - match report

The Daily Record - match report

qosfc.com - match report

Tontastic pictures