Ross County 3 - 1 Morton

Ross County 0 - Wood (49), Brittain (67 pen), Scott (90)
Morton 1 - Paartalu (29)

Att: 1752

Two steps forward, one step back: a very poor second half performance saw Morton concede three preventable goals to throw away the one goal lead they held at half-time.

There was only one change to the team that beat Dumbarton in the cup on Saturday: James Grady decided that Brian Graham's headed winner in the cup match was enough to earn the young striker a start. Graham took Brian Wake's place in the team. Stevie Masterton was deemed fit enough to take a place on the bench.

One of the biggest surprises of the evening was the weather. This was a midweek match, in the Highlands, in the middle of December. But, believe it or not, the weather was pretty mild. It wasn't snowing, raining or even that cold. It was certainly suitable conditions for us to continue playing our passing football. We didn't quite continue were we left off in the Dumbarton game, as chances were few and far between, but we did look pretty solid.

Jim McAlister had a great chance to open the scoring in the 7th minute when he was played through on goal, but he was forced to a difficult angle and dragged his shot across goal and agonisingly wide of Michael McGovern's far post.

Peter Weatherson headed wide in the 18th minute. The striker managed to get ahead of his marker to meet a cross from the left but the Ross County defender managed to recover and give Peter enough of a nudge to put him off his header.



Our only other chance in the first half resulted in a goal - and what a goal it was. Brian Graham received the ball on the left hand corner of the box (as the Morton team looked at it) and managed to hold it up to allow support to arrive. He laid the ball off to Aussie midfielder Erik Paartalu, who let fly from 25 yards without breaking his stride. The ball arrowed straight into the McGovern's top left hand corner to spectacularly open the scoring.

The Staggies weren't up to much and only managed to create two chances of note in the first period. On the half hour Scott Morrison's inswinging cross from the right went inches past the post after it had evaded everyone, including Colin Stewart. Then, four minutes later, Paul Di Giacomo was played though one-on-one with Stewart but he could only hammer into the side netting.

The small Morton support - 40 or so 'hardy souls' - were delighted to go in 1-0 up at half-time. No one would've predicted what was about to happen in the second half, as almost everything that could go wrong did.

County manager Derek Adams beefed up his attacking options by sending on Garry Wood. The former Caley Thistle striker made an immediate impact by equalising four minutes into the second half. Garry Miller managed to get in behind the Morton defence and cut back for Wood to tap in with ease.

The next blow arrived when Ton boss James Grady was sent to the stand after an altercation with Craig Brewster. This was a very harsh decision considering Brewster stepped into our technical area and started pushing Grady to get the ball. Grady pushed him back and then Brewster grabbed the wee man by the throat. Brewster was quite rightly sent to the stand, but it was a bit of a farce that Grady was sent to join him. He didn't take it lying down, however, as he climbed into the stand and stood about two seats from the front. He was then asked to sit down by the head steward, which he did - for two seconds. As soon as the head steward turned around he stood up again, in the kind of way you can imagine Gerry doing when a steward tells him to sit down. Crawford Rae had to make his way down from the back of the stand to convince James to come away from the front before he was ejected from the stadium (pictured, below: Grady watches the game from his new seat). The Morton fans seemed to love his defiant behaviour and treated him to a chorus of ' There's only one James Grady' to show him they were right behind him.


Things went from bad to worse in the 67th minute as Richard Brittain stroked a penalty down the middle to give the home side the lead. The spot kick was given after Alan Reid was adjudged to have handled by referee John McKendrick. There were some howls of derision from the away support, but I think the referee got it right. Reid's arms were all over the place when he jumped in front of the shot. Instead of jumping to block with his arms at his side, or even in a more natural position, he basically did a star jump with his arms and legs stretched out. There was six of us sitting together and we all agreed it was a penalty.

It was effectively game over when Alan Reid was sent off in the 85th minute. He gave away possession to end a promising Morton attack and it seemed that his frustration had gotten the better of him when he slid in with his studs up. He was given a straight red for the challenge, meaning that he automaticaly misses the Queen Of The South match on Saturday.



Brian Wake missed a great chance and Colin Stewart made a couple of excellent saves before the Staggies wrapped up the win in the 90th minute. In a déjà vu moment Martin Scott smashed the ball past Stewart after the ball had been cut back from the left hand side of the Morton defence. The vast majority of the goals we concede come down that side - this is something the management team will have to address. In a very controversial move, I'd advocate Dominic Shimmin's return to the starting XI in place of David MacGregor.

The second half performance was disjointed and nervy - a big comedown after the last four matches. For me, the most disappointing aspect was the way we resorted to hopeless long balls for the last half hour. It was a real backwards step. It will be interesting to see how Grady, and the team, respond to this set back.

Photographs in the body of the report courtesy of Russell Gordon.

Morton (4-4-2):

1. Stewart - 7
2. Van Zanten - 6
3. MacGregor - 5
4. Reid - 4
5. Greacen - 6
6. Paartalu - 6
7. Finlayson - 5
8. Monti - 6
9. Graham - 6 (16. Wake - 71 mins)
10. Weatherson - 5
11. McAlister - 6


Unused Subs:

12. Masterton
14. McGuffie
15. Shimmin
20. McWilliams

Booked: Monti

Sent Off: Reid (85)

Stewart
van Zanten Greacen MacGregor Reid
Paartalu
Finlayson Monti
McAlister
Graham Weatherson

Ross County: McGovern, Miller, Morrison, Kettlewell, Boyd, Keddie, Gardyne (Scott - 81), Lawson, Di Giacomo (Craig - 70), Brittain, Vigurs (Wood - 46)

Subs Not Used: Girvan, Malin.

Booked: Miller.

My man of the match: Colin Stewart

Sponsor's man of the match:


Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)

Match Ticket










Team Sheet











Greenock Telegraph - Match Report

The Daily Record - Match Report

bbc sport - Match Report

Money's Tight

Douglas Rae has scuppered any hopes James Grady had of getting his hands on the cash raised by the cup tie with Celtic by stating that the money raised will be used to offset losses caused by the credit crunch and poor home crowds.

Rae (pictured) told the Evening Times's Bert Mitchell of his intentions: "The last few years have hit us hard and we have suffered from dwindling attendances. I am not sure what the Celtic tie will bring in, but any money will go to balancing the books.”

This would suggest that Grady will have to use the loan system to secure the striker he is desperately looking for. Either that or he plans to move on a couple of players he deems surplus to requirements in the January transfer window.

Evening Times - Morton's Celtic Cash May Go To Balance Books (07.12.2009)

Dumbarton 0 - 1 Morton

Dumbarton 0 -
Morton 1 - Graham (74)

Att: 1495

Super sub: Brian Graham's late header broke Dumbarton's hearts and earned Morton a crack at SPL giants Celtic in the 4th round of the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

James Grady sprung a little suprise with his team selection - and a big surprise with his choice of substitutes. After several weeks with the exact same team, Grady decided to change things about by adopting a diamond in midfield: Erik Paartalu sat in front of the defence, Carlo Monti - who, in the only change to the starting XI from the original tie, took Ryan McGuffie's place in the side - and Kevin Finalyson were the wide players (but playing a little narrower than orthodox wide midfielders), while Jim McAlister sat at the apex, just behind the front two. The biggest surprise was Dominic Shimmin's inclusion on the substitutes bench after nine months out injured (pictured, below).


Morton went for the jugular right from the first whistle. Monti's deliveries from set pieces and his crosses from out on the left were causing particular problems for the Dumbarton defence. Peter Weatherson managed to get on the end of quite a few of them but couldn't quite direct any of his headers properly. The one he did manage to get on target came from a Kevin Finlayson cross, but Jan Vojacek managed to get across and block at the post.

A minute later Stewart Greacen came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock. Monti whipped in a dangerous inswinging corner and the Ton captain arrived right on time to bullet a header towards goal, unfortunately, the ball crashed off the crossbar and back into play.

As I watched Morton create chance after chance but fail to score, I kept thinking on Andy Gray going on and on about how a team must score when they're going through a period of domination as there will always come a point that the opposition get on top. As we continued to fail to make our dominance count the Sons came back into the game towards the end of the half. Luckily for us the home side didn't manage to convert their chances either.

Roddy Hunter almost capitalised on an Alan Reid slip on the half-way line but Davie MacGregor got back to make a magnificent interception. Then Colin Stewart scrambled to save a Ben Gordon header at the second attempt in the 38th minute, thus ensuring that the sides went in level at half-time. Morton should've been leading.



The second half began in a similar fashion to the first - Morton were on top but not going at it as gung-ho as the first 20 minutes of the match. We were trying to build from the back and pass our way forward.

I can't remember one punt up field from Stewart. If it was a goal kick he'd pass it to a defender, and if he had the ball in his arms he'd bowl it out to the full-backs. Encouragingly, the players would take the ball and look for another pass - along the ground. Grady's training is working a treat as the players actually looked like they knew what they were doing, they had a game plan and were sticking to it. They refused to buckle under the pressure of impatient fans who would shout at them to 'stop fucking about back there and get it forward' and who would then boo any inaccurate long ball. Furthermore, they refused to succumb to the temptation to take the safe option and smash the ball forward in tight situations. Rather than resort to a long ball they would remain calm and pass their way to safety.

The big problem we have is that our passing moves seem to break down in the final third. We lack two things: a creative attacking midfielder who can unlock a tight defence with a key pass or a moment of genius, and a pacey striker who can get in behind a defence and get on the end of these visionary passes. The good news is that the Ton boss has acknowledged the need for these types of player (especially a striker) and is actively looking to make additions to address these problems. If Grady has the budget, and can find players who fit the bill, then I can see us climbing the table quite quickly.

22-year-old striker might have something to say about the need for a new striker as it was his goal that won the match and earned his club a crack at Celtic in the next round. David van Zanten and Finalyson combined down the right before van Zanten used the front of his right boot to drill a cross into the centre where Graham leaped and expertly angled a header beyond Vojacek's despairing dive. The goal arrived in the 74th minute - just three minutes after Graham had repleaced the ineffctual Brian Wake.


The match seemed over when Scott Chaplain was sent-off for a second bookable offence minutes after the goal. However, we still had to survive a couple of late scares - including one incident in which the Dumbarton goalkeeper came up for a corner and caused a bit of confusion in the Morton defence - before we could begin looking forward to the next round.

Referee Steven McLean's final whistle ended what seemed to be an eternity of injury-time. The roar that greeted the whistle was as much about relief as it was about joy. Bring on the Celtic!

Photographs courtesy of Tontastic.

Morton (4-4-2):

1. Stewart - 8
2. Van Zanten - 8
3. MacGregor - 7
4. Reid - 7
5. Greacen - 7
6. Paartalu - 6
7. Finlayson - 6
8. Monti - 8
9. Wake - 6 (12. Graham - 71 mins)
10. Weatherson - 7
11. McAlister - 7


Unused Subs:

14. McGuffie
15. Shimmin
16. Gordon
20. McWilliams

Booked: Graham, Paartalu

Stewart
van Zanten Greacen MacGregor Reid
Paartalu
Finlayson Monti
McAlister
Wake Weatherson

Dumbarton: Vojacek, O'Donoghue, Dunlop, Gordon (McNiff 46), Smith, Chisholm, McStay (Clark - 79), Chaplain, Murray (Carcary - 56), Hunter, Geggan.

Subs Not Used: Craig, White

Booked: Dunlop, Chaplain.

Sent Off: Chaplain (76)

My man of the match: Carlo Monti

Sponsor's man of the match:


Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)

Greenock Telegraph - Match Report

Greenock Telegraph - Match Reaction

The Daily Record - Match Report

dumbartonfootballclub.com - Match Report

bbc sport - Match Report

tontastic pictures

Fight, Fight, Fight...

Jim Duffy (pictured) insists that fights are nothing new in football, in fact, he's been involved in a few himself.

In his regular Scottish Sun column, The Football Insider, the former Ton defender talks about a fight he had with Frank McGarvey at Celtic - and one against Roddy Hutchison at Morton.

Duffy said:

I had another bust-up at Morton which I still get stick for now from the lads. Roddy Hutchison was a big hard man in our side - and genuinely fearsome. There was a game when he wasn't happy with my passing and I wasn't pleased with the way he was holding the ball up. As we got to the dressing room he threatened me and I responded "what, do you think I'm a stupid wee boy like the rest of them in here?" My comments defused the situation, but when I meet up with the likes of Jimmy Rooney or Jim Holmes now they still say "We're only silly wee boys".

No TV Pay Day For Morton

The BBC will definitely not be broadcasting live television coverage of Morton (or Dumbarton) versus Celtic in the 4th round of the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

A Morton versus Celtic tie looked like one that television might be interested in, after all, Sky Sports did choose to show the same fixture in 1999. However, Sky have announced that they will be showing Hamilton Academical versus Rangers.

There had been hope that the BBC would show the match as they have the rights to two live matches prior to the final. However, BBC spokesperson Jim Gough has confirmed that the Morton / Dumbarton versus Celtic tie will not be shown live by the BBC. In fact, they will not be showing any 4th round tie. When asked if they were considering it, he simply said: "We won't have a live match that round."

We will get to see the match on TV as the highlights of matches from the third round onwards will be shown on BBC's Sportscene.

Fixture Changes

Morton will play Dumbarton in the Scottish Cup 3rd round replay this Saturday (05.12.2009) and the match will be all ticket.

We have received 900 briefs and these will go on sale to season ticket holders at 9.30am tomorrow morning at Cappielow and Smiths in West Blackhall Street. They will then go on general sale on Friday at 9.30am. Prices are: Adults - £12, Concessions - £6. Smiths will also be selling tickets on the day of the match should there be any left over.

The club has also announced that fans should remember to keep their ticket stubs from the Dumbarton match because priority will be given to those with stubs when they go to buy tickets for the Celtic match - providing we beat the Sons, of course.

As a consequence of the cup replay Saturday's league fixture against Ross County at Victoria Park has been postponed and re-arranged for Tuesday 8th December. The match will kick-off at 7.45pm.

gmfc.net - Dumbarton - v - Morton (01.12.2009)

gmfc.net - Ross County - v - Morton (01.12.2009)

Celtic At Cappielow... Hopefully

Morton have been drawn at home to Celtic in the 4th round of the Active Nation Scottish Cup - but we'll have to beat Dumbarton in Saturday's 3rd round replay to get there first.

Today's draw was screened live on Sky Sports News (pictured). Morton were drawn out by former Rangers defender Richard Gough, while Celtic were drawn out by recently retired Celtic and Scotland defender John Kennedy.

Morton and Celtic last faced each other in the quarter-final of the same competition on the 8th March 1999. On that occasion a Celtic team including Henrik Larsson, Paul Lambert, Craig Burley and Mark Viduka ran out 3-0 winners. Viduka scored two, in what was his first start for the Parkhead side, while Celtic legend Larsson netted the other after a mistake by man of the match Paul Fenwick.

Sky Sports have chosen Hamilton Accies versus Rangers as the match they want to show live, so our tie will be played on Saturday 9th January 2010.

The full draw is as follows:

Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Motherwell
Hamilton Academical v Rangers
Greenock Morton or Dumbarton v Celtic
Hibernian v Irvine Meadow
St. Mirren v Cowdenbeath or Alloa Athletic
Raith Rovers or Peterhead v Airdrie United
Dunfermline Athletic v Stenhousemuir or Cove Rangers
Forfar Athletic v St. Johnstone
Clyde or Livingston v Dundee
Albion Rovers v Stirling Albion
Aberdeen v Heart of Midlothian
Edinburgh City v Montrose
Partick Thistle v Dundee United
Ross County v Inverurie Loco Works
Ayr United v Wick Academy or Brechin City
Kilmarnock v Falkirk

scottishfa.co.uk - The Active Nation Scottish Cup 4th Round Draw (30.11.2009)

gmfc.net - Active Nation Scottish Cup - 4th Round Draw (30.11.2009)

celticfc.net - Celtic's Scottish Cup Draw (30.11.2009)

Morton 0 - 0 Dumbarton

Morton 0 -
Dumbarton 0 -

Att: 1882

Up for the cup: second division Dumbarton came to Cappielow and emerged with a creditable 0-0 draw after a lacklustre Morton failed to match their lower league opponents for effort in the 3rd round of the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

There were few surprises in James Grady's team selection as he went with the same starting line-up for the fourth match in a row. Dumbarton included former Ton defender Chris Smith (pictured, below) at centre-half in a 4-5-1 formation designed to contain and frustrate the Cappielow men. Credit to Sons boss Jim Chapman though - it worked.

In newspaper previews Grady made a point of stating that we had to win the battles and match the effort of our lower league opponents. We didn't quite do that though. We weren't terrible; it just looked the players thought that all they had to do was turn up, and that a goal would come eventually.



Both goalkeepers ensured that there would be no goals at either end. In the first half Jan Vojacek, Dumbarton's Czech shot stopper, made saves to deny Jim McAlister, Ryan McGuffie and Brian Wake.

The second half belonged to Colin Stewart. While Vojacek could only watch as Paartalu's chested the ball down and sent a stunning dipping volley narrowly over and then almost gave away a penalty when he clumsily barged into Stewart Greacen, Stewart made important saves to deny Andy Geggan, Scott Chaplain and Roddy Hunter. Then, in the final minute, Ross Clark put Derek Carcary through on goal with just the Morton goalie to beat. Stewart kept his team in the cup by racing out to make the crucial block - a block that, it turned out, could earn his club thousands of pounds in revenue as the winners of the replay have been drawn to play at home to Celtic in the 4th round.

Brian Graham was the only player to manage to put the ball in the net, but the substitute's 67th minute strike (pictured, below) was ruled out as he was clearly offside. Unfortunately, Graham decided to take nip in to take the ball off the toes of Ryan McGuffie, who would've been allowed to run through on goal after timing his run to perfection.



Vojacek's first-half saves won him man of the match (probably because he was the goalkeeper for the underdogs), but in my opinion the award should've went to the Ton number one. Stewart has been one of the top performers in recent weeks. Grady has that ability that all great managers seem to have - the one where they regularly manage to get the best out of some of the less naturally gifted, and less confident, members of their squad. For example, guys like Stewart, Erik Paartalu, Brian Wake and Kevin Finlayson are flourishing under the Grady / McManus partnership.

Chris Smith was another star performer. Junior was widely criticised for his performances at left-back in his time at Cappielow. However, I always felt sorry for him as Davie Irons insisted on playing him at left-back - presumably, for the simple reason that he was naturally left-footed - even though he was a centre-half to trade. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable in the full-back position. He didn't have the poise, mobility or ball skills necessary to play there. His strengths were all physical in nature: he was good in the air, reasonably strong and robust in the tackle. I think that Chris proved that he wasn't as bad as some people thought, particularly in the way he dealt with Peter Weatherson.



Morton never really managed to get out of first gear and the match finished 0-0. The tie goes to a replay at the Strathclyde Homes Stadium next Saturday. Morton will need to raise their game considerably if they want to face Celtic in the next round.

Photographs courtesy of Tontastic

Morton (4-4-2):

1. Stewart - 8
2. Van Zanten - 6
3. MacGregor - 6
4. Reid - 7
5. Greacen - 6
6. Paartalu - 7
7. Finlayson - 7
8. McGuffie - 5
9. Wake - 5
10. Weatherson - 6 (16. Graham - 60)
11. McAlister - 7


Unused Subs:

12. Monti
14. Kane
15. McManus
20. McWilliams

Booked: Reid

Stewart
van Zanten Greacen MacGregor Reid
Finlayson Paartalu McGuffie McAlister
Wake Weatherson

Dumbarton: Vojacek, O'Donoghue, Smith, Dunlop, Gordon, McStay, Chisholm, Chaplain, Hunter (Carcary - 76), Geggan (Clark - 81), Murray.

Subs Not Used: Craig, McNiff, White

My man of the match: Colin Stewart

Sponsor's man of the match: Jan Vojacek (Dumbarton)


Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)

Greenock Telegraph - Match Report

Greenock Telegraph - Match Reaction

The Scottish Sun - Match Report

dumbartonfootballclub.com - Match Report

bbc sport - Match Report

tontastic pictures