[Rudy]

First half we were well on top, playing some great football. Chris Millar was superb and the best player on the park by far. Great play by Kevin Finlayson(who had a good game) for Russell's goal.

Second half we were completely different team. First 20 mins we were terrible, and under a lot of pressure. Stirling should have had at least 1 penalty for a clear handball by big Greacen. Their guys 2nd yellow was well deserved, can't remember what the 1st was for. Thought we'd go on and win the game to be honest. But every ball was going to Harding on the right side as we were chasing the game, and he actually got a few good balls into the box but we have no one who is a real aerial threat. He made a good run and won the penalty which was pretty clear cut. Take a bow Johnny Wilkinson...err...I mean Jamie Stevenson. That was an absolutely dreadful penalty kick.

Should have won, but for a shocking penalty kick and some luck with Stirling not getting much from the ref in and around our box - main culprit being Greacen.


PS Finlayson, hope you found your balls again.

[Dunning1874]

Really disappointed, first half hour we were well on top and Stirling were there for the taking. Then we started to sit deep and invited Stirling to attack rather than trying to kill them off. We paid the price.

The goal we lost was a disgrace, theres no way a player should be allowed a free header in the 6 yard box from a corner.

While we had more chances, IMO Stirling were the better team and should have won. They just wanted it more.

[Swampy]

Fair result overall, which reflects poorly on us; when Stirling sat back we should have been all over them, and that's to say nothing of the penalty.

We started very well, faded just towards the interval, but really, really should have won against ten men.

Disappointing stuff, but well done to Stirling for their fightback.

garymcc1874, I reckon the first booking for #10 was for persistent fouling, and quite right it was, too. To be fair to today's ref I think he got most decisions correct, and generally used the advantage rule well.

This post has been edited by Swampy: 03 November 2007 - 17:40

[DomDom]

I'm still wondering how Weatherson managed to miss his chance in the six yard box.

His was an easier chance than the penalty.

[GreenOak_Ton]

Cheats and thugs!Thats only words i can use to describe the shocking treatment of Kevin Finlayson.Why did Stirling keep booting the ball at our Kevs gonads????

We looked comfortable in first half but as usual Moore sorts everything out at halftime and Stirling took over.They thoroughly deserved the draw and would probably have won if that daft No 10 hadnt pulled Kevs shirt for a crazy sending off.
Binos played really well and didnt resort to cynical fouls or timewaste after they went down to ten men,in fact they tried to push on and win the match.Credit to Bino fans too for providing some atmosphere as it seemed Ton players and supporters just couldnt be arsed.Strange atmosphere in the shed today that i cant put my finger on.Anyone else not feel much passion for the match today?
Wellplayed Stirling.I think both promoted teams from last seasons Div2 will stay up.

[DomDom]

Quote

Binos played really well and didnt resort to cynical fouls or timewaste after they went down to ten men,in fact they tried to push on and win the match.

I could have sworn that Stirling were playing for the draw, and there was some blatant time wasting as well.

[Wug]

If I was a Stirling supporter I'd feel pretty hard done by. They were by far the better team today - until the sending off, obviously.

Really don't know what happened today, we started well but then seemed to do absolutely nothing after that. Stirling started to take control of the game in the first half without really creating much, their number 11 looked quite a good player. Even though Stirling were probably playing slightly better I was still pretty confident that we could break up the park and score a second pretty easily. How wrong I was!

After the break we couldn't get a kick of the ball and their goal was well deserved. I didn't really see it (behind a pillar) but heard it was a f**k-up by Greacan?

Just before the goal McInally had taken Walker on for Gardyne, putting McAnespie in centre mid (who was having an absolute shocker). You could see he was looking for a bit more strength in the middle of the park as we were getting completely outplayed but it just didn't happen. Was no surprise to see McAnespie go off just after that.

I thought Stirling had 2 decent penalty appeals turned down, one hit Harding's (?) hand but looked like it just played him. The one after was where Harding was all over Cramb but somehow the ref gave us the free-kick for backing in. The sending off was probably right, 2 bookable offences.

Then, step up Jamie fucking Stevenson. Hero Boy. Harding did well in the box, a wee step-over and he was brought down. Stevenson (just on the park and all he had done up until then was 1 blocked shot and a couple of mis-placed passes) then grabs the ball. Everyone around us was asking why the f**k Weatherson wasn't hitting it. Anyway, boy wonder then skied it, one of the worst pens ever.

Can't believe that we didn't create more against 10 men for nearly 20 minutes, it was a really, really poor performance. Okay, Stirling probably were the better team and, on reflection, a draw was possibly all we could have hoped for after that performance. It's ridiculous saying that, though. With all due respect to Stirling, these are games we should be winning. Not good enough at all.

[Swampy]

Quote

Then, step up Jamie fucking Stevenson. Hero Boy. Harding did well in the box, a wee step-over and he was brought down. Stevenson (just on the park and all he had done up until then was 1 blocked shot and a couple of mis-placed passes) then grabs the ball. Everyone around us was asking why the f**k Weatherson wasn't hitting it. Anyway, boy wonder then skied it, one of the worst pens ever.

I know you're pissed off in the aftermath of the game but even so, that's a bit unfair. Jamie's penalties are normally excellent and I fully expected him to take it.

Granted, he won't be taking the next one

[Wug]

Swampy, on Nov 3 2007, 17:58, said:

I know you're pissed off in the aftermath of the game but even so, that's a bit unfair. Jamie's penalties are normally excellent and I fully expected him to take it.

Granted, he won't be taking the next one

Did you not sense the atmosphere around when he stepped up? He's not been playing well and he's got hardly any confidence. He's just doing too much instead of concentrating on simple passes etc. which would, in turn, bring his confidence back up. I was not surprised when he missed it. Raging, yes, but not surprised.

[Swampy]

Fair enough... to be honest, all I could see was him burying it, not getting his foot under it like a moron.

Incidentally that's the exact same thing that Greacen did when he had a chance for a long shot a while later - head back, leaning away from the ball, pretty much trying an overhead kick except on the ground. I really don't understand how anyone who's kicked a ball more than once can make these mistakes, but there you go

[Weekender]

Fair result in the end but we should have used the fact we were on top of the first half to better use and scored more than one and certainly tested their goalkeeper far more than we did.

[SpoonTon]

Wug, on Nov 3 2007, 18:01, said:

Did you not sense the atmosphere around when he stepped up? He's not been playing well and he's got hardly any confidence. He's just doing too much instead of concentrating on simple passes etc. which would, in turn, bring his confidence back up. I was not surprised when he missed it. Raging, yes, but not surprised.

Stevenson hasn't missed a penalty for Morton before(3/3). They've all been excellent, that's why he has been the penalty taker for a while now. Peter stopped taking them cause he missed a couple in a row.

And I thought Stevenson did fine when he came on, not excellent but by no means bad.

[Wug]

Fair enough, I didn't. By no means am I blaming him anyway. He's just trying too hard to be the hero.

[BasraTon]

Wug, on Nov 3 2007, 18:12, said:

Fair enough, I didn't. By no means am I blaming him anyway. He's just trying too hard to be the hero.

Something that he isnt. That penalty was terrible, rank rotten infact. We should have buried them full stop.

[DomDom]

Nevermind the penalty. That was one shot in a game in which we should have had much much more sight of the Stirling goal. When we DID get a sniff of the goal, it took too long to get there, and Weatherson's chance would have been easier to score than to miss. Morton are quite simply not clinical enough.

[Weekender]

I expected Russell to take it,quite sure with his record at Brechin he must have taken and bagged a good few ?

This post has been edited by BluebirdTon: 03 November 2007 - 18:30

[kullibino]

I thought in the end a draw was fair, however had McKenna not walked I think we might have sneaked it.

[The Pacey Winger]

Couldn't make the game today but not too despondent at a point at Morton, especially coming back from a goal down then being a man down.

As the season goes on not many will get much at Cappielow.

[Wug]

The Pacey Winger, on Nov 3 2007, 18:36, said:

Couldn't make the game today but not too despondent at a point at Morton, especially coming back from a goal down then being a man down.

As the season goes on not many will get much at Cappielow.

I hope you're right.

[froggybinos]

Alot of very good points made in this thread, and some less so. I personally felt the referee had an okish game, however, from a Stirling perspective i honestly feel the sending of was harsh. Two very soft bookings, well softish and considering the referee let the same things off for every other player, he just looke ddetermined to send young McKenna off. Stone wall penalty that Morton got. In saying that as has already been said we had a stone wall penalty turned down when Gracean hauled Cramb out the way only for erm Cramb to be booked.

On contrary to Morton fans i actually felt we controlled the first half, other than your goal i cant remember one chance for Morton, all be it we probably had none. We certainly had 60+% possession. Second half untill we equalised it was one way traffic, and then Morton came back into it and sneaked it.

A draw a fair result in the end.

Thanks must go to Sean and the Albert Supporters club for being excellent hosts at the Hotel.

[greg]

Come off it - what game were you most of you Morton fans watching? Stirling were the far better team today.

Stirling from the word go got the ball down, passed and move - Morton score with their first attack due to some very slack defending.

After that we continued to press and looked the better side - teams went in 1-0 to Morton.

2nd half was 1 way traffic towards the Morton goal and the goal had been coming for ages and at that point there only looked like one team would win.

Stupid booking for Mckenna's red card and were down to ten men and from then I thought we would have to hold on. Morton then get a stone wall penalty and I'm thinking at this point how can they go 2-1 after the pasting weve handed them in the 2nd half.

Missed penalty (there goes your perfect penalty record). Still the binos play was good almost scored straight after the missed penalty (should really have put that away). Game ends 1-1 and Stirling fans were in the end pretty dissapointed at our play only resulted in a draw but releieved we didnt lose a game in which the better team were in red.


Mortons hoof the long high ball into the box is pathetic way to try to score - there played some nice stuff for the goal but after that they hoof it to weatherston and lok for scraps. Poor show boys.

[miketheheadlesschicken]

The red card effectively changed the game. I thought it was an incredibly soft sending off. Two bookings for things that plenty of players on both sides got away with. If the ref had been dishing out cards for the whole game, I could understand it. But there was only 1 other yellow card today and that was for talking back to the ref. The ref was very lenient today apart from towards McKenna.

Thought we were awful in the first half. Really sloppy in possession. Excellent start to the second half and we were by far the better team until the sending off. Even with 10 men, Morton never really looked like doing much until an awful bit of defending by McBride (I think - hard to tell when there's a pillar in the way). Well played Jamie Stevenson. The guy obviously loves the Binos.

[StewartyMac]

My thoughts on today.....

First of all, a huge thanks to Jim and Sean and the rest of the Gourock boys for some tremendous hospitality today, a great wee pub, good buffet, and some good banter. Cheers guys, that will definitely be reciprocated at some point in the future.

As for the game, a draw maybe just about right, but the ref totally ruined it for a needless sending off for McKenna. Honestly, two fouls, two cards?? Totally ridiculous. Morton pinned us back for most of the first half without ever really testing Christie in goal, although the goal they scored was a cheap one to lose. 2nd half was a different story, at least until the sending off. Until then, we were excellent, and I honestly thought we were gonna win it. Out goal was soft from a Morton point of view, but I was going too mental by that stage to care. Morton then got a penalty, which was a clear PK, but thankfully they let Stevenson, a boy who always has a 'mare against us, take it, and he duly obliged again by aiming for his old town, Alloa!! I was still celebrating, when Lilley almost nicked it for us a few seconds later.

Overall, a hugely enjoyable game of football and a great day out. Nice one.

[Swampy]

It was way more than two fouls, as I said earlier I'm almost certain the first card was for persistent fouling. He was all over Greacen on several occasions.

Can't disagree with the rest of your post

[Swampy]

Quote

Mortons hoof the long high ball into the box is pathetic way to try to score

Nice try.