Dundee 1 - 0 Morton

Dundee 1 - Higgins (56)
Morton 0 -

Att: 5449


Full match report to follow...












Morton (4-5-1):

1. Halliwell - 7
2. McGuffie - 6 (15. Graham - 87 mins)
3. MacGregor - 5
4. McManus - 6
5. Greacen - 7
6. Masterton - 7
7. Finlayson - 5 (14. Wake - 79 mins)
8. MacFarlane - 7
9. Weatherson - 7
10. Monti - 6 (12. Jenkins - 62 mins)
11. McAlister - 6

Unused Subs:

16. Harding
20. Stewart

Booked: Masterton, Finlayson, Graham

Halliwell
McGuffie Greacen McManus MacGregor
Finlayson Masterton MacFarlane Monti McAlister
Weatherson

Dundee: Bullock, Paton, Malone, McHale, MacKenzie, Lauchlan, Hart, Cameron (Kerr 75), McMenamin (Griffiths 68), Higgins, Harkins (Forsyth 87).

Subs Not Used: Trialist, Casement.

Booked: MacKenzie, Lauchlan, Higgins.

My man of the match: Colin Cameron (Dundee)

Sponsor's man of the match: Sean Higgins (Dundee)


Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)

Team Sheet














Match Ticket

Greenock Telegraph - match report

dundeefc.co.uk - match report

dundeefc.co.uk - match reaction (Jocky Scott)

dundee fc.co.uk - match reaction (Sean Higgins)

bbc - match report

The Scottish Sun - match report

The Daily Record - match report

The Herald - match report

Dundee v Morton Preview

Tomorrow Morton begin the 2009/10 Irn-Bru Scottish First Division season in the hardest possible way - a trip to Dens Park to play overwhelming title favourites Dundee.

So far this summer Davie Irons has been alternating between 4-5-1 and 4-3-3 formations depending on the level of opposition. In the two cup games against lower league opposition he went with the 4-3-3, but chose the 4-5-1 for the Renfrewshire Cup final. I'd suggest that it's very likely that he'll go back to the 4-5-1 for tomorrow's match in the hope we can stifle the opposition and take something back to Greenock.

We are still without Dominic Shimmin and Kevin Cuthbert but Jim McAlister has returned from his trial at Watford and will play according to Irons. Shimmin and Cuthbert aside we are at full strength and you'd expect the manager to persevere with the same personnel that won 3-1 at Cowdenbeath albeit with McAlister and Kevin Finlayson playing a bit further back.

The lack of summer signings means that we have a fairly settled squad and this may be the main reason why we can snatch something from this game. Dundee have strengthened their side significantly with the additions of Leigh Griffiths, Gary Harkins, Chris Casement, Richie Hart, Sean Higgins and Pat Clarke. These players might take time to settle and gel as a team. However, you could also argue that they are of a sufficient standard that they will still have too much for us - a view I subscribe to, although I hope I'm wrong.

According to Dundee's official website two players are certain not to play: Mickael Antoine-Curier misses out due to suspension and Craig McKeown is injured. There are doubts over the fitness of Rab Douglas and Eric Paton. Tony Bullock will deputise between the sticks if Douglas doesn't make it and that could be a big bonus for us as the former Scotland keeper was immense last season, particularly in the second match at Dens Park in which we drew 0-0. I'd also read that Gary MacKenzie, David Cowan and Pat Clarke were doubtful but the Dundee preview suggests that they all played a part in a friendly against Antwerp and should be okay for Saturday.

I'm not optimistic about tomorrow but neither do I think we will take the hammering some fans think we will. I can see us getting everyone behind the ball to frustrate Dundee but eventually conceding around about the 75th minute and losing 1-0.


Admisson Prices*

Adults: £17
Concessions (Senior Citizens, Under-16s and students with valid matric cards): £10

*from Bryan's post on the greenockmorton.org: here

Last Meeting

04.04.2009 - Scottish 1st Division
Morton 2 - 0 Dundee


Possible line up

Halliwell
McGuffie Greacen McManus Monti
Finlayson Masterton MacFarlane Jenkins McAlister
Weatherson

Betting (high street prices)

Morton are best priced at 18/5 with .
Dundee are 4/6 with , and .
The Draw is 3/1 with .


My Predicition

Dundee 1 - 0 Morton
6/1 with .


Greenock Telegraph - Allan: Dundee Tie Is A Must-Win (07.08.2009)

dundeefc.co.uk - Morton preview

oddschecker.com - Dundee v Morton

Airdrie Up, Livi Down

Morton will resume hostilities with Airdrie United, and Scott McLaughlin (pictured, left: celebrating the first of two goals he scored against us as Airdrie won 5-0 last season), this season after they were promoted to replace Livingston who have been relegated to the third division for continuing to operate while insolvent.

Livingston's future now appears to be in doubt as the consortium looking to take over at Almondvale have stated that their plans for the club were only viable if they remained in the 1st division.

Cowdenbeath - who we beat 3-1 in the Co-op cup last Saturday - will be promoted to the second division and it looks likely that the 3rd division will only have 9 teams if Livingston go out of business.

scottishfootballleague.com - Press Announcement (06.08.2009)

Kilmarnock Away

The draw for the 2nd round of the Co-operative Insurance cup has handed Morton another away tie - but this time it has been sweetened by the fact that it is against SPL side Kilmarnock.

Morton and Killie had a fierce rivalry through the 1980s and 1990s (and possibly going much further back, as I remember Joe Caven - a team mate of Allan McGraw's in the 1960s - telling a group of Ton fans on one of our Highland tours that his favourite ever result was beating Kilmarnock 5-1 as he didn't like them) but this has dissipated over the last decade or so due to the teams playing in different divisions for so long. However, the last meeting between the sides will be fresh in any Ton fan's memory as we beat the Rugby Park side 3-1 in the Scottish Cup two and a half years ago (pictured, above left: Chris Templeman volleys Morton into a 2-1 lead).

The tie will be played on Tuesday 25th of August with a 7.45pm kick-off. According to gmfc.net the match is 'pay at the gate' and prices are:

Adults - £15
Concessions - £10
Children Under 16 - £ 5

Full draw:

Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Albion Rovers
Forfar Athletic v Dundee
Dunfermline Athletic v Raith Rovers
Arbroath v St. Johnstone
Partick Thistle v Queen of the South
Alloa Athletic v Dundee United
Hibernian v Brechin City
Ross County v Hamilton Academical
Kilmarnock v Morton
Ayr United v St. Mirren

In other cup news Ross County have confirmed that our Alba Challenge Cup 2nd round tie at Victoria Park will be played on Tuesday 18th of August with a 7.30pm kick-off.

Admission prices are as follows:

Stand
Adults - £15
Concessions - £7
Children under-16 - £4

Terracing
Adults - £13
Concessions - £6
Children under-16 - £3

scottishfootballleague.com - Co-operative Insurance cup 2009/10

gmfc.net - CIS Insurance Cup 2nd Round

kilmarnockfc.premiumtv.co.uk - co-operative insurance cup

rosscountyfootballclub.co.uk - Alba Challenge Cup: RCFC V Morton - Match Details Confirmed

Hawke Completes Iron Man Challenge For Charity

Yesterday former Morton striker Warren Hawke embarked on a gruelling Iron Man challenge in Antwerp, Beligum to raise money for cancer charity Maggie's Centres.

The Marc Herremans Classic, or Iron Man 70.3, is made up of a 1.2 mile open water swim followed by a 56 mile cycle and a 13.1 mile run to the finish.

According to Richard Winton's article in the 31st July edition of The Herald Warren's main motivation comes from the fact that his father-in-law is living with cancer. The Englishman has set a target of £2000 and states that he thought it was unfair to ask people to part with donations for events that he believes weren't difficult enough for a former professional sportsman: "Over the years I'm sure you may be aware that I have completed various events such as marathons, 1/2 marathons and short Triathlons. I always had a passion for raising money but felt these events were not enough of a challenge to ensure you would part with your precious recession cash!"

However, the Iron Man 70.3 represents a different challenge all together, he said: "It's going to be difficult, probably the most difficult thing I've done and I sometimes think would it really be that bad to have a bulge? But I know I've got to do it for the charity, despite the fact I feel pretty rotten. The swim and cycling will be fine but I'll just have to drag my arse around the 13 miles of the run."



Warren (pictured, above left: training for the event and directly above: at Morton) has currently raised £1,195 and you can help him reach his target by donating on his own Just Giving webpage: http://www.justgiving.com/warrenhawke/

gmfc.net - Morton's Own Iron Man (09.07.2009)

The Herald - Former Morton Hero Aiming To Be An Iron Man (31.07.2009)

scottishfootballleague.com - Iron Man Hawke Looks For Support (12.07.2009)

Jim Heads To London On Trial

The story and the hullabaloo surrounding Jim McAlister and his potential move to Romania has probably done exactly what his agent wanted and stir up interest closer to home. Yesterday the Scottish Sun's Gareth Law revealed that Jim will travel down to London today (Sunday) to have a four day trial with Coca-Cola Championship side Watford.

The article (pictured, below: click to enlarge) also states that McAlister still has a chance to win a move to Unirea Urziceni as he will spend the following week training with the Romanian champions.

Watford - who finished 13th in last season's Championship - are currently managed by former Celtic defender Malky Mackay and have Scots Don Cowie and Scott Severin playing for them.

Cowdenbeath 1 - 3 Morton

Cowdenbeath 1 - McQuade (31 pen)
Morton 3 - Weatherson (7, 51), MacFarlane (12)

Att: 486

Morton eased into the 2nd round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup with a comfortable win at Central Park.

As expected Davie Irons stuck with the 4-3-3 that he used against Dumbarton the Saturday before. The only difference to the team was the return of Allan McManus who replaced Alex Walker after he served out his 1 match suspension at the Strathclyde Homes Stadium.

As seems to have been a regular occurence - the St. Mirren game aside - we started this match brightly and began to fade as the match went on. Possibly because the players had become complacent thinking the match was won. More of that later but now back to our great start. We took the lead after just 7 minutes when Ryan McGuffie popped up in an advanced position. He cut back on himself and clipped a ball to the back post with his left foot, Peter Weatherson arrived right on cue to power a header past Hay in the Cowden goal. McGuffie has been featuring at right-back this season and has been making a good job of it for my money.



5 minutes later Neil MacFarlane scored his first goal for Morton to make it 2-0. And what a goal it was too. A Stevie Masterton free-kick was blocked and the ball rolled into MacFarlane's path 30 yards from goal slightly to the right of the goal, and the experienced midfielder pinged the ball into the keeper's top left hand corner first time and without breaking his stride. I'd be surprised if we see a better goal all season.


We were on easy street now, or so we thought as the referee and linesman had different ideas when they awarded a controversial penalty in the 3oth minute. I wasn't sure what it was for and I don't think our players did either. It was only after reading Monday's papers that I discovered the linesman claimed that Carlo Monti has handled Jay Stein's cross. Paul McQuade rolled his penalty down the middle past Bryn Halliwell's flailing legs to put his team right back in it.



The goal affected us a bit but we never really looked like losing the lead and the game was put beyond doubt early in the second half. Unfortunately I missed the goal all thanks to Tomato sauce; I had just bought a pie and was about to turn around to watch the game again when I noticed a bottle of tomato sauce and while I put on the sauce Stevie Masterton whipped a corner to the near post where Weatherson had arrived to power a header into the roof of the net.



From then we were confortable and basically played out time to secure our place in the second round draw. The only other thing of note from the day was the despicable state of the Central Park toilets (pictured, directly below). I'm not usually critical of toilet facilities at Scottish football grounds - you expect to be in in moss ridden middens peeing against a brick wall and that doesn't bother but these 'faclities' took the biscuit. The floor was caked in bird shit, as was the urinal trough and the actual toilet bowl was full of tree branches, leaves and paper to such an extent it had filled the bowl. Sometimes I take my 4 year old son to the games and I'm just glad I didn't take him on Saturday as he would've been traumatised if he had to go in here. Sort it out Cowdenbeath.



Toilet facilities aside this was a decent result and performance but we'll have to step it up a few gears when we travel to Dundee next week.

Morton (4-3-3):

1. Halliwell - 6
2. McGuffie - 5 (16. MacGregor - 68 mins)
3. Monti - 6
4. McManus - 6
5. Greacen - 7
6. Masterton - 7
7. Finlayson - 6
8. MacFarlane - 7
9. Weatherson - 8 (14. Graham - 84 mins)
10. Jenkins - 6 (12. Wake - 72 mins)
11. McAlister - 6

Unused Subs:

15. Walker
20. Stewart

Booked: Wake

Halliwell
McGuffie Greacen McManus Monti
Masterton MacFarlane Jenkins
Finlayson Weatherson McAlister

Cowdenbeath: Hay, Baxter, Mbu (Broudge 83), Adamson, Linton, Stein, Robertson, McCabe, McBride (Fairbairn 66), Wardlaw, McQuade (Dempster 59).

Subs Not Used: Tomana, Bonner.

Booked: Baxter

My man of the match: Peter Weatherson

Sponsor's man of the match: Peter Weatherson


Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)

Greenock Telegraph - match report

bbc - match report

The Scottish Sun - match report

The Daily Record - match report

The Sunday Mail - match report

Cowdenbeath v Morton Preview

Morton are in cup action for the second Saturday in a row as they travel to Fife to face Cowdenbeath in the 1st round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup tomorrow.

We go into the game on the back of a 1-0 win against Dumbarton. The Blue Brazil will also be confident having come back from one nil down to beat Peterhead 2-1 at Balmoor; the kind of result we could've really done with in last season's Scottish cup.

So far this season Davie Irons has experimented with a 4-5-1 formation. This formation easily turns unto a 4-3-3 if you have the right personnel in the wide positions and look to attack for most of the game. The flexibility of the formation seems to have made it popular throughout Europe. It's also attractive because the manager can change between the two from game to game with minimum disruption to his players - if they can play one, they can play the other. Last week at Dumbarton the formation was a 4-3-3 but it switched back to the 4-5-1 for the Renfrewshire cup final. I think it's likely that Irons might go back to the 4-3-3 seeing that we are up against lower league opposition.

On the injury front we are still without Dominic Shimmin and Kevin Cuthbert but have a full squad apart from those two. Brian Fairbairn returns for Cowdenbeath and Neil McCabe, Gareth Wardlaw and Scott McBride are set to make their home debuts. Former Morton player Jay Shields (pictured, below) is currently playing with the Central Park side but is doubtful after he missed last Saturday's match with Peterhead due to a foot injury. Darren McGregor and Danny McKay definitely miss out as both have recently undergone surgery.



Admisson Prices

Adults - £10
OAP - £5
Children under-16 - Free

Last Meeting

31.03.2007 - Scottish 2nd Division
Morton 3 - 0 Cowdenbeath


Possible line up

Halliwell
McGuffie Greacen Walker Monti
Masterton MacFarlane Jenkins
Finlayson Weatherson McAlister

Betting (high street prices)

Morton are best priced at 5/6 with and .
Cowdenbeath are 5/2 with .
The Draw is 13/5 with .


My Predicition

Cowdenbeath 1 - 2 Morton
7/1 with , , and


scottishfootballleague.com - Co-Op Cup 1st Round Previews (31.07.2009)

bbc.co.uk - match preview

oddschecker.com - Cowdenbeath v Morton