All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately Morton have to get straight back onto the saddle against title-chasing Livingston in West Lothian tonight, having seen their long unbeaten run halted by a ruthless Falkirk on Friday.
While the injuries to Iain Wilson, Tomi Adeloye and Filip Stuparevic couldn’t be legislated for, and Morton may well have been on the wrong end of Friday’s scoreline anyway, it does make me question the wisdom in re-scheduling the Hamilton game for a week when we had Falkirk on the horizon, and there was always going to be a chance of a game involving the BBC’s darlings being moved to a Friday night.
Though postponed games have to be re-scheduled at some point, Morton should be looking at ensuring the scheduling helps, or at the very least doesn’t hinder, our cause. Ton’s leggy performance, even in light of those injuries, would suggest that was the case.
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The match itself was very much a damp squib from a Morton perspective, with Falkirk on the front foot from the off. Though both of the Bairns’ goals were entirely preventable, with Scott Arfield given plenty of space to place his 20th minute effort beyond Ryan Mullen and Ethan Ross again given the freedom of Cappielow seven minutes later to add a second, it was quickly apparent that there was only going to be one winner.
If someone had told me as Ross wheeled away to celebrate that the score would remain 2-0 at full time, I’d have bitten their hand off!
Falkirk had too much in the tank for a tiring Morton side at Cappielow on Friday. (Image: alex craig) The second half was an improvement, though Morton’s only real effort of note was a low Nathan Shaw drive from distance that was comfortably smothered by Nicky Hogarth. Admittedly, Falkirk looked to have taken the foot off the gas by that point.
We can forget about seeing Stuparevic in a Morton shirt again I’m afraid, but the returns of Wilson and Adeloye can’t come soon enough. While one defeat doesn’t a bad team make, a very positive run could quickly turn into a rut, with Morton facing all three title contenders in a short period, a run broken up only by this Saturday’s trip to Dunfermline, with enough need for points of their own for respite.
Livingston, on the other hand, enjoyed a fantastic weekend, beating Ayr at Somerset Park thanks in no small part to our old friend Robbie Muirhead’s wonderful free-kick winner at the death.
Morton's two trips to West Lothian so far this season have yielded a goalless draw early in the Championship campaign and a 2-1 defeat in the SPFL Trust Trophy. (Image: Gary Bradley) While Muirhead’s brilliant goal dampened what could have been a perfect weekend for Falkirk, Morton are now tasked with putting a spanner into Davie Martindale’s team’s title challenge, and looking for a favour from Airdrie against Raith Rovers as they look to further their own ambitions for the season.
Though there’ll be no old pals act between Imrie and his old boss Martindale this evening, just getting out of this testing period in striking distance of the play-offs and with the squad as close to unscathed as possible may well be the priority.
At least we’ve had a day’s more rest than Livingston, though!
