Queen Of The South 1 - Lancaster (72)Morton 1 - Grady (41)
Att: 2643
Morton made it three games unbeaten with this draw at Palmerston but might feel they should've won it.
There was only one change to the team that won the two previous matches against Dunfermline and Clyde which was Chris Smith's inclusion at Alex Walker's expense. Walker ruled himself out due to personal reasons and not, as Davie Irons was at pains to point out, because of the mistake he made in the Clyde match.
This performance wasn't quite up there with the previous two but we were probably still worth the three points over the piece. However, Queens probably made the better start as Kevin Cuthbert was called into action on a couple of occasions early on. He made a decent block to deny Tosh around about the 2oth minute and shortly after he had to be alert to gather Stewart Kean's effort after it had taken a deflection.
We weren't without our own chances and could'vetaken an early lead when Jim McAlister collected an Erik Paartalu pass. However, as is often the case Jim lacked composure at the crucial time and failed to hit the target with his left footed effort.
James Grady also had a header saved by former Morton goalkeeper Lee Robinson before he broke the deadlock four minutes before half-time. ARobinson pushed a powerful Weatherson free-kick round the post, Jim McAlister flighted over the corner from the right and an unmarked Grady headed home from about 4 yards out. Grady's height may have been an advatage in this situation as the Queens defence probably concentrated on marking Morton's taller players leaving Grady to slip in unnoticed and head past Robinson. The keeper - on loan from Rangers - appeared to flap at the corner - something Morton fans will idenitify with as it seemed to be a regular occurence at the start of his season at Cappielow.
So we went in at half-time 1-0 up and the consensus seemed to be that we were looking good for the win. Unfortunately we were wrong.
Iain Russell replaced Grady in the 61st minute and had a glorious chance to put the result beyond doubt. Finlayson's angled cross from the right was missed by the entire Queens' defence but Russell had cleverly anticipated what would happen and got in a position behind the last defender and this allowed him a clear goalscoring chance when the ball did fall him to him. The Dumfries born striker's side-footed effort with his left foot lacked conviction and Robinson flung himself low to make the block with his outstretched arms. Some people say this is a great save - and it was - but I've always been of the opinion that the striker shouldn't even give the goalkeeper a chance to make the save in a situation like this.
As it happened we would regret this miss when Queen Of The South equalised about 5 minutes later. Bob Harris collected a short corner on the edge of the box and flighted a cross to the back post where Martyn Lancaster somehow managed to squeeze a header between Cuthbert and the post. This was a very poor goal to concede. We went to sleep and didn't pick up Harris who was unmarked on the edge of the box and going by the third picture on the qosfc.com match report McManus wasn't close enough to Lancaster while Cuthbert and McAlister look like they really should've managed to keep the header out.
The only real effort on goal after the equaliser came when Stephen Dobbie made space for himself and fired a shot away but Cuthbert was equal to it.
So we had to be content with a point but I just felt that on the balance of play we deserved the win however a draw at Palmerston can't be considered a bad result, especially on the back of two wins.
Morton (3-5-2):
1. Cuthbert - 7
2. McManus - 6
3. Smith - 6
4. Paartalu - 7 (15. Masterton - 79 mins)
5. Greacen (c) - 8
6. Jenkins - 8
7. Finlayson - 6
8. McGuffie - 6
9. Weatherson - 7 (12. Wake - 82 mins)
10. Grady - 7 (14. Russell - 61 mins)
11. McAlister - 7
Subs Not Used:
16. Walker
20. Cannon
Booked: McManus, Weatherson.
Cuthbert
Greacen McManus Smith
Paartalu
Finlayson McGuffie Jenkins McAlister
Weatherson Grady
QotS: Robinson, Lancaster, Aitken, Thompson, McCann (Wilson 67), Harris, Robertson (McQuilken 76), Tosh, Burns (MacFarlane 9), Kean, Dobbie.
Subs Not Used: Halliwell, Weatherston.
Booked: Robertson, Lancaster.
My man of the match: Allan Jenkins
Sponsor's man of the match:
Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)
Greenock Telegraph match report
Greenock Telegraph - match reaction
BBC match report
The Scottish Sun match report
The Daily Record match report
qosfc.com - match report
Tontastic pictures
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