I expect Brechin to sit in on Saturday. Morton have had difficulty at Cappielow in breaking down teams that play 11 behind the ball. After a bit, frustration creeps in, our passing game goes out the window in favour of the long ball and the opposition take the initiative.

So, I reckon that either

1) We will be well up for this after our midweek disappointment and play Brechin off the park

or

2) make our usual heavy weather of packed defences plus suffer a hangover from the cup game and lose, maybe by 2 or 3.

Personally, I think 2) is likelier but I'll be there living in hope as usual. An early goal for us would make it a good game.

Saturday will be pish, no doubt. I, too, am expecting Brechin to sit back and soak up pressure - therefore making it another boring game.

I should back the draw then

Not expecting much but hope to be surprised.

Think there's a fair chance we'll suffer from the midweek disappointment and that Brechin will benefit. Then again it's an opportunity for McInally to impress with his powers of motivation

A couple of mogadons should see me through.

Yep, score draw.

At least the Brechin fans will turn out for this one - unlike Clyde.

Will Morton fans be heard this week?

Eh? With the abuse we gave the ref and us scoring, you heard nothing?
Were you asleep? Don't know why; after all, it was an edge of your bucket seat encounter...

Ok i take it back, i heard you guys when you scored. But the home end was like a morgue...

Would have thought a team with such a big support, and the factor of covered terracing would mean there would have been a bit of noise but evidentally not!!!

Point taken - the deafening noise I have been subjected to any time I have visited Stirling Albion has been quite incredible

As you know - fans at home games dont tent to make a much noise as a travelling support especially when the fare on offer from the visiting team does not make for an overly entertaining game.

I'll try and remember my ear plugs for my next visit to Stirling.

We have no reason to sing with our petty support and our defensive tactics, as for a big club like morton

And top of the league, come on, i thought at least one song wouldnt be too much to ask

Don't forget your nose peg, it fucking stinks there.

Are my eyes deceiving me or is someone from Greenock poking fun at the hygiene in Stirling!!!?

Yep - your eyes are deceiving you. He isn't from Greenock.

Fair enough....i'll let him keep that comment

Where did I poke fun at the hygiene of people from Stirling?

I was referring to the smell of shite from the sewage plant, but feel free to admit to being a bunch of smell folk if that's what you want to do.

I know you were....was just trying to get a cheeky bite to make my friday afternoon at work go quicker, but well done sir.

Back to the game, any chance brechin can do us a favour with a point?

Could well be a draw at Cappielow tomorrow

If its a draw it will be a score draw as our reserve keeper could'nt keep a clean sheet if his life depended on it and, increasingly, our defence are terrified of him and would rather punt the ball out for a throw or a corner rather than pass back to him. Its no accident that our 'no goals conceded' record went after McGurn got injured.

Morton to win, no problem.

Cushtie victory to the good guys.

I worry a bit here - Brechin's last two trips to Scapa saw them win 3-0 and 2-0 without really breaking sweat, and they seem to have decent record down in Greenock.

City to cruise to victory today in front of a massive travelling support.

That'll be nice












ps will that be your usual 20 then

Here's the brechin support leaving for the game this morning -

Think they will have as many as that

Game delayed 10 minutes for Brechin fans, tractor get stuck in traffic?

Today's referee was probably one of the worst i have ever witnessed, some really baffling decisions today.

I actually thought the ref wasn't too bad today. Stand-side linesman was, as usual, less than useless, which didn't help the referee.

On the match itself, it wasn't pretty but we got the job done. We created far more chances than Brechin and should have scored more; that said, Brechin had two very good chances as well, but these were preventable on our part. Had Brechin grabbed a goal, we'd have only ourselves to blame for leaving with one point instead of three.

But, although it wasn't the best we've played all season, that's another three points, another clean sheet and an unbeaten quarter in the league. I thought Alex Walker was good today, as was McLaughlin. Millar was quieter than usual but covered the pitch nicely - he starts as a central midfielder but seems to be everywhere at once (MOST of the time, anyway) - he's improving as a footballing thinker as well as a player with each passing game.

Not the greatest performance from neither Lilley nor McGowan, granted they weren't helped by the Brechin central defensive pairing using them as vaults. No poor performers today, but no truly superb ones, either. That's to be expected after a tough week; thankfully the international break is now upon us, with a seven point gap to reflect on during the break.

Very pleased with how today went, even if the match itself wasn't the best.

That's a pretty good summary Swampy. My dog eat dog theory came good for us today with four of the top six dropping points.

I thought the referee missed a lot today but at least he tried to let the game flow and there was scope for there to have been a whistle every 30 secs in that game.

There is no doubt that the best team won and we should have scored more. Credit to the Brechin defenders who made more last ditch saving tackles than I can remember in one game. Also we could do with working on that final pass. There were any number of times today when a little square ball would have put one of our guys in the clear plus we were pretty wasteful of our chances, with McGowan being the worst offender. His touch just seemed to let him down a bit today.

All in all though, no real failures. Even Gonet did what he had to do reasonably competently. The team though, looked a bit jaded and maybe thats not surprising given their mid week efforts although, it was clear at the end that our guys still had the legs when a number of Brechin players looked as though the tank was empty. Still, I'm quite pleased we have the break now which will let any niggly knocks players are carrying clear up.

Brechin looked a sturdy and workmanlike team without a lot of flair. Hampshire was a decent forward and might have done more with better support.

I thought big temps played well when he came on today.

yup, can't disagree with anything i've read here regarding the match - we didn't play very well but still picked up the 3 points, which is always a good thing. 7 points clear now, undefeated after the first round of fixtures and i can see us getting better as the season continues - good stuff

Yep I doubt not even Morton can blow this

Syntax not a strong point in Kircaldy?

Can't really argue with what has been said so far, both teams were pretty poor going forward in my opinion but Morton definately deserved the win.

Referee was absolutely terrible in the first 20 minutes or so, in our favour. Our defenders (And everyone else for that matter) kicked Morton off off the park but after all it's a mans game.

John Ward was absolutely fantastic at the back for us, never lost out in the air and made a couple of last ditch tackles (How about that one near the end, one of the best tackles I have ever seen!)

Once again toothless up front, we create plenty of chances but lack the cutting edge in front of goal. Iain Russell and Darren Smith constantly tormented your defence at times and it was a real shame that Russell had to go off mid-way through the second half, with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, hopefully it isn't too serious.

Overall, it's what I expected and hopefully we can get back on track next week.

Wasn't the best game but after Wed it was important to get back to winning ways and the team did ok. Brechin were well organised and were very effective at breaking up play which made it awkward but we always looked more likely.

Pleased that Gonet held his nerve and dealt pretty comfortably with all that came his way and hopefully he can rebuild some confidence. No real standouts although I thought both Lilley and Millar worked very hard.

Usual refs performance which was inept rather than partisan.

3pts will do and a good end to the first quarter.

Thats a good term for it. I said at the start of the season that too many teams were fairly evenly matched and would take points off each other. Meaning that a relatviely modest points total would be enough to win the league. Hopefully we don't become complacent tho.

As for the game - we looked fairly comfortable but missed chances became a growing concern that we would see a repeat of the Stirling game with a late equaliser.

Fortunately it didn't come and a competent but not spectacular display was enough to secure the points.

Think we looked a bit flat going forward with no real imagination. McAllister had his best game in a while - even not accounting for the goal - and Alex Walker at left back was fantastic. Great to see our full back making himself available for a ball and picking a pass rather than the Spoonsy all or nothing attitude.

I think these pictures from Tontastic sum the game up perfectly.

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Dog eat dog could work for us again if we can get a result at Kirkcaldy in two weeks time as yet again second plays third with Ayr hosting Stirling.

Match Report now online:- HERE.