That's The Kind Of Attitude We're Looking For

Jim McAlister will miss Saturday's match with St. Johnstone after a booking for diving in a match with Livingston earned him a one match suspension - and he seems gutted about it.

In an article in today's Greenock Telegraph he talks to David Christie and says that he hates missing matches and is really proud of the number of games he has played for Morton: “It is weird, as I have been used to building up to a Saturday for years and years, and now I can’t be involved. It has been frustrating more than anything.

“To have played from a reasonably young age in the first team and start in so many games, I am really proud of building up such a record, but now it won’t continue.

“I just hate missing games. I’ve been hit quite a few times, but I seem to recover as I look after myself off the park. Touch wood, I have been lucky with injuries, never having any muscle problems."

Jim (pictured, above left) made his Morton debut in the 2002/03 season and since then he has started 217 matches and made 16 substitute appearances. This Saturday will see the end of Jim's run of 129 consecutive appearances in all competitions and will be only the third match he hasn't started in all Morton fixtures for the last five seasons.

Greenock Telegraph - McAlister: Not Playing In Perth Is 'Really Weird' (30.04.2009)

Morton 11 - 0 Viewfield Rovers

Morton 11 - Finlayson (10), McGuffie (32), Weatherson (35, 81), Grady (46, 54, 68, 80) Wake (78, 87), Russell (85)
Viewfield Rovers 0 -

Att: 127

A very strong Morton team cruised into the Renfrewshire Cup final after a convincing 11-0 win.

Davie Irons went with a strong starting XI, one that you might even expect to face St. Johnstone on Saturday. This was probably due to the fact that we had no game at the weekend and he wanted to give the players a run out. The only starters who can't be considered first team regulars were Ryan McWilliams in goal and Carlo Monti in midfield.


The demolition began in the 10th minute when Kevin Finlayson picked the ball up on the edge of the box and smashed a shot past Shearer in the Viewfield goal. The ball hit the post and flew across goal and in at the other side.


Surprisingly it was another 22 minutes before we scored again but this one was worth waiting for. Ryan McGuffie strode forward from midfield and fired a shot into the top right hand corner with the precision of a laser beam.



The third arrived three minutes later when Peter Weatherson - who didn't have the best of nights having missed numerous chances over the 90 minutes - arrived at the back post to volley an Iain Russell cross against the goalkeeper and in.



In the last action of the first half Brian Wake ran onto a long ball over the top and lifted the ball over the unrushing keeper however his shot bounced, struck the base of the post and ran to safety.

So the score was 3-0 at half-time. Without wanting to be disrespectful to Viewfield I thought they were the poorest team I've seen Morton play in a Renfrewshire Cup semi-final and that there should've been far more than a three goal margin at half-time. Irons seemed to agree and went with a 2-4-4 formation in the second half.


James Grady was introduced at the interval and seemed as hungry for goals as he did at the beginning of his career. Only a minute after the kick-off he got his first, and Morton's fourth, when he stabbed a McGuffie lay off past Shearer. A minute later he volleyed against the cross bar and over.


Unsuprisingly Grady scored again in the 54th minute when he popped up in the right place at the right time to tap a Finlayson cross, that Russell swiped at and missed, into the net. The veteran was showing no mercy to his amateur opponents in his quest for goals and completed his hat trick when he headed a Russell cross home from a couple of yards out.


Brian Wake tapped in McGuffie square ball for 7 in the 76th minute. Grady made it 8-0 four minutes later when he cooly placed the ball past the keeper after he had expertly controlled Monti's excellent ball over the top. Darren McGeough came on as a sub (and impressed me with his distrubition and calm manner in possession) and flighted an excellent cross for Weatherson to head home. Spoonsy had missed quite a few chances up to this point and looked quite relieved to get his second goal. In fact, he actually took time to have a bit of banter with a guy in the crowd suggesting that's what happens when he gets the right service.



Russell made it 10 when he stooped to head home a Finalyson cross. Wakey completed the scoring in the 87th minute when he slotted home from a very tight angle.

Overall this was a very easy win but that's to be expected when you put out what is close to a full strength side against an amateur team. I was talking with a pal about how the Renfrewshire Cup could be improved and we both kind of agreed it would be quite interesting if the Renfrewshire FA allowed junior teams to compete. The likes of Arthurlie (who won the Renfrewshire Cup in 1956/57), Renfrew, Johnstone Burgh, Greenock and Port Glasgow might put up more of a fight and make the competition more interesting.

Morton (3-5-2; 2-4-4):

1. McWilliams - 7
2. McManus - 6 (12. Grady - 46 mins - 8)
3. Walker - 6 (15. Smith - 46 mins - 6)
4. Paartalu - 6
5. Greacen (c) - 7
6. McGuffie - 7 (14. McGeough - 79mins)
7. Finlayson - 8
8. Russell - 7
9. Weatherson - 5
10. Wake - 6 (12. Grady - 74 mins)
11. Monti - 5

Subs Not Used:

16. Mitchell
20. Deans

1st Half

McWilliams
Greacen McManus Walker
Finlayson Monti Paartalu McGuffie Russell
Weatherson Wake

2nd Half

McWilliams
Greacen Smith
Finlayson Monti Paartalu McGuffie
Russell Weatherson Grady Wake

Viewfield Rovers: Shearer, Campbell, McDermott, Leonard, Fitzsimmons, Currie, Joyce (Martin, 80), Evans, Cairney, McIntyre (Cowie, 62), McCullough.


My man of the match: Kevin Finlayson

Sponsor's man of the match: n/a


Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)

None

Greenock Telegraph match report

gmfc.net teamlines (couple of mistakes on goalscorers)

Sean O'Connor To Retire

Queen Of The South have announced that former Morton loanee Sean O'Connor will retire from football at the end of the season.

The striker - who will only turn 28 this summer - has been advised to retire due to a serious knee injury. This is a sad end to a career that never really reached the heights it could due to O'Connor being quite injury prone. One particular injury that will stick in the mind of most Ton fans was when Colin Reilly's horror tackle left him in a crumpled heap in the last minute of a Challenge Cup tie against us at Palmerston in 2002/03. Talking about the tackle Sean told qos.co.uk : "It was my worst moment in football. The pain was excruciating and I actually thought it was the end of my football career."

I always quite liked O'Connor (pictured, above left: celebrating with Scott Miller and below: playing against Berwick) and vividly remember singing "Heeyyyy Sean O'Connor, ohhh, aahhhh, I wanna knooooww if you'll score a goal" in Babylon one night after he'd scored a double in a 4-1 win away to Stranraer. Hopefully he makes a success of whatever he does after he retires.



O'Connor scored 9 goals in 23 starts and 1 sub appearance for Morton in his time on loan from Dundee United.

qosfc.com - Sean O'Connor To 'Hang Up His Boots' (28.04.2009)

qosvideos.co.uk - The Night I Thought My Career Was Over

Field Of Dreams

In a recent edition of the Scottish Sun former Morton player Jim Duffy was asked to pick his dream XI from his former team mates and the Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year award winner for the 1984–85 season choose three former Morton players in his team (four if you include him) - Jim Holmes, Jimmy Rooney and Stuart Rafferty.

On the players Duffy (pictured, above left) said:

Jim Holmes
"My old Morton team mate was one of the game's unsung heroes. He was a great footballing defender and someone who was so comfortable with the ball at his feet. The fact he played with Morton for about 13 years says a lot."

Stuart Rafferty
"He was also a great passer and crosser but he was best known during his time with Dundee for his work-rate. He was up and down the pitch all day long."

Jimmy Rooney
"Scorer of some great goals with Morton but also a brilliant guy. The kind you needed around the dressing room to lift players."

And on himself he said:

Jim Duffy
"I think my style worked well along with Gordon [Rae] as it allowed me to play around his aggressive style."








In a similarly themed Scottish Sun article another two ex-Morton players were picked out as a hard opponents. In answer to the question: Off their heads. Who were the hardest players you faced? former Rangers player Tom Forsyth answered:

"Battling centre-forwards such as Sugar Osborne of Morton, Eddie Morrison of Kilmarnock [who also played for the Ton] and Dixie Ingram of Ayr. They were brave and they battled all day. They were worth their weight in gold and I always had a hard tussle against them."

Stuart Duncan Reveals Youth Academy Plans

Stuart Duncan - Greenock Morton Supporters' Trust's representative on the club's board of directors - has released plans for a Greenock Morton Youth Academy.

The plan was unveiled by Russell Steele in Wednesday's Greenock Telegraph. In the article Steele reveals that the Greenock Morton Youth Academy Ltd will be run independently of the club as a charitable organisation and that this has been given the green light by the club. The set up will continue as is for next season and the plan is to have the academy up and running by the start of the 2010/11 season. The set up will start at SFA initiative league criteria with the aim of reaching the gold standard for youth football - performance league status - as soon as possible.

On the decision to run the academy seperately from the club Duncan said: "The academy will be run independently of the club but obviously with very close links. The benefit of having a charitable organisation is that we will be able to make grant applications.

"We will also seek sponsorship and carry out fundraising, as the number of youth teams we run will obviously depend on the funding available."

I think Stuart deserves tremendous credit for taking the initiative and making something like this happen. However, I'm still unsure about the club. It seems to me that they have granted Stuart permission to use the club's name for the academy but not much else. The academy will be run independently, as a charitbale organisation, which suggests to me that the club aren't that interested in financing or running the set up but I'm sure they will be happy to take any young players that are produced. It will be interesting to see what will happen in the future should an exciting prospect break into the Morton first team and earn a transfer fee to a bigger club; will the Youth Academy take a percentage of the tranfer fee as part of a written agreement, will the club make the decision of how much money to put back in or will they simply keep any monies made from transfers.

However, that's all for the future - I'm just delighted that there are ambitious plans in place to overhaul an important aspect of the football club that has been ignored for too long. Something that current defender and Under-19s manager Allan McManus acknowledged in yesterday's Tele': “It has to be done as at the moment we are dealing with the basics. For the size of the area Greenock covers, there are far too many kids slipping through the net. Obviously they are going to go elsewhere if there is nothing for them at their local club so to introduce this is an absolute no-brainer. But it is essential they think about the facilities as well. The under-19s play their home games at the Battery Park which is affected by the wind, but some of the parks we play on, well you wouldn’t walk your dog on them. We are trying to teach the kids to pass and move the ball then we turn up and see the state of the pitch for the match.”

Hopefully the Greenock Morton Youth Academy will address McManus's concerns and give all Morton fans a youth set-up we can be proud of.

You can read the article by clicking on the images below.







Greenock Telegraph - Ton Unveil Youth Academy Plans (22.04.2009)

Greenock Telegraph - Facilities Hold The Key For Ton (23.04.2009)

Morton To Play Viewfield Rovers In Renfrewshire Cup Semi

Morton will play Viewfield Rovers in the semi-final of the Renfrewshire Cup next Tuesday (28th April). The match will kick-off at 7pm and admission prices are £5 - Adults, £3 - concessions.

We have met Viewfield twice in recent Renfrewshire Cup semi-finals. At the end of season 2006/07 we beat them 5-0 (pictured, above left) and going further back we beat them 10-1 at the beginning of the 2004/05 season.

gmfc.net - Renfrewshire Cup - Semi-Final

Morton 5-0 Viewfield Rovers - match report

Morton 0 - 1 Partick Thistle

Morton 0 -
Partick Thistle 1 - Akins (20)

Att: 3323

Morton blew their small chance of promotion with a poor performance in front of Cappielow's biggest league crowd of the season.

In what must be some sort of record for the season Davie Irons went with an unchanged starting line up for the third week in a row.



The first half was characterised by both goalkeepers flapping at almost every cross that came their way and it was one of these incidents that lead to Thistle's opener (which, as it turned out, would be the winner). Ian Maxwell took a long throw from out at the stand side and Kevin Cuthbert came out to punch clear but his connection was flimsy and he only succeeded in sending the ball to the edge of the box. From there it was knocked back into the box and Lucas Akins - on loan from Hamilton Accies - flicked out a right boot and managed to knock the ball past Cuthbert and into the corner of the net with the outside of his right boot.



Thistle's Jonny Tuffey was also having a nightmare. The Northern Ireland international is usually very reliable but on Saturday he looked as if he couldn't catch a cold. However, his catching and jumping weren't the only errors of judgement he was showing. In the 28th minute Stevie Masterton lined up a free-kick. He struck it low with a bit of curve and Tuffey jumped past the ball with his arms raised to suggest he didn't touch it and was letting it run out of play but he got it totally wrong and the ball crashed off the inside of the post and, frustratingly for the Ton support, bounced agonisingly across the face of goal and out into play.



It was a poor first half and Morton deserved to go on 1-0 down. The most frustrating aspect of the game was that we seemed to have returned to the aimless long balls that blighted our game earlier in the season. I'm not sure if the players were feeling nervous because the match had been hyped up as a last chance for promotion for both sides or Partick Thistle were pressing well and forcing errors but I did notice the midfield's lack of desire to get on the ball. There was an incident in the second half when Alex Walker had the ball out on the left. Allan Jenkins could have easily dropped off his marker to pick the ball up but he stood where he was giving Walker no real option but to clip a high ball forward which was met with a large collective groan from the Cowshed. Usually Jenks is the man who will drop of for the ball, it was just that in this one example he didn't. I'd say Ryan McGuffie and Stevie Masterton are more guilty of avoiding possession of the ball in those situations - McGuffie's tendency to hide really frustrates me. He is a quality player but in my eyes always avoids taking responsibility. You only have to look at the way Jenkins will demand the ball and try to drive forward with it and compare it with the way McGuffie always tries to get rid of it as soon as he gets it.



Thistle, and Akins in particular, really should have put this game to bed in the second half. He had three glaring one-on-one chances but on each ocassion the pacy striker lacked composure; he blasted one chance wildly over the bar, another miles wide and a third directly at Cuthbert. If Akins could add that bit of composure in front of goal to his pace and strength he could score a lot of goals at this level.

Cuthbert's save from Akins was one of three made in the second half to make up for his shaky first half performance. The closest we came to scoring in the second half came from a Masterton corner that struck the cross bar. The way Masterton was whipping them in it actually looked as if he was trying to score all afternoon.


Peter Weatherson also had a header well saved by Tuffey but we failed to make the breakthrough and Thistle left Cappielow with the three points they deserved. It is hard to get too downbeat about this result after our excellent recent form but it was frustrating to see St. Johnstone lose 3-2 to Queen Of The South on the Sunday - particularly as we still have a trip to McDiarmid Park a week on Saturday.

Morton (3-5-2):

1. Cuthbert - 6
2. McManus - 6
3. Walker - 6
4. McGuffie - 5 (14. Russell - 66 mins)
5. Greacen (c) - 7
6. Masterton - 6
7. Finlayson - 4
8. Jenkins - 6 (15. Paartalu - 85 mins)
9. Weatherson - 5
10. Wake - 6 (12. Grady - 74 mins)
11. McAlister - 6

Subs Not Used:

16. Monti
20. McWilliams

Booked: Walker

Cuthbert
Greacen McManus Walker
Finlayson Jenkins Masterton McGuffie McAlister
Weatherson Grady

Partick Thistle: Tuffey, Paton, Twaddle, Maxwell, John Robertson, Archibald, Chaplain, Rowson, Akins (McKinlay 80), Doolan (Donnelly 58), Harkins.

Subs Not Used: Kinniburgh, Storey, Hinchcliffe.


My man of the match: Stewart Greacen

Sponsor's man of the match: Stevie Masterton


Matchday Programme (Click to enlarge)

Sold Out when I got there at 2.45.

Greenock Telegraph match report

Greenock Telegraph match reaction

BBC match report

The Daily Record match report

The Scottish Sun match report

Tontastic Pictures

ptfc.co.uk - match report

Player Awards

Stewart Greacen is having a fantastic season for Morton and has been tipped as the favourite for many of the supporters' player of the year awards - so it was no surprise that he has added both the February and March greenockmortonfc.blogspot.com player of the month awards to the one he'd already secured in January to make it three-in-a-row.

In February the Ton captain (pictured, above left) won 37% of the vote (17 out of 45 votes). His closest rival was Allan Jenkins who won 17% (8 /45) while Erik Paartalu, Kevin Finlayson and Peter Weatherson all shared third place with each receiving 8% of the votes (4/45).

The March poll was a much closer affair. Again Stewart pipped Jenkins to the award but by just 3 votes this time. Greacen won 30% of the vote (13 out of 42 votes) while Jenks won 23% (10 /42). Allan McManus - my personal choice - came third with 16% (7/42).

February's full results:

Stewart Greacen - 17 (37%)

Allan Jenkins - 8 (17%)
Peter Weatherson - 4 (8%)
Kevin Finlayson - 4 (8%)
Erik Paartalu - 4 (8%)
Brian Wake - 3 (6%)
Dominic Shimmin - 2 (4%)
Chris Smith - 1 (2%)
Ryan McGuffie - 1 (2%)
Jim McAlister - 1 (2%)

March's full results:

Stewart Greacen - 13 (30%)
Allan Jenkins - 10 (23%)

Allan McManus - 7 (16%)
Kevin Cuthbert - 3 (7%)
Peter Weatherson - 3 (7%)
Stevie Masterton - 2 (4%)
Jim McAlister - 2 (4%)
Ryan McGuffie - 1 (2%)
James Grady - 1 (2%)

Fans also have the opportunity to pick their player of the year by sending in their votes to the Greenock Telegraph - who have decided to resurrect their Sir William Lithgow player of the year award this season.

According to Roger Graham the award "lapsed during the tenure of the previous owner of the club."

You can vote by sending in your choice to:

Sports Desk
Greenock Telegraph
2 Crawfurd Street
PA15 1LH

Wednesday's Tele' included a form to fill out and send in (pictured, below) but I'm not sure if your choice needs to be sent in on one of those or can simply be written on a piece of paper but I do know any votes must reach the Tele office by the 4th of May as the award will be presented to the winning player before the Ross County match on the 9th of May.

Greenock Telegraph - Vote For Your Ton Player Of The Year (15.04.2009)