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.

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.

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.

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

His was an easier chance than the penalty.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Nice try.

I actually had an enjoyable match day experience actually

Well done for getting the toilets and catering sorted for that end, and likewise getting seperate turnstyles. All be it at least 25 Albion fans went through the home gate.

Greacen and Harding were at it as much as Cramb and McKenna. Cramb was fouled 4 or 5 times and neither player even got spoken to. Total inconsistency from the ref and I don't see how anyone who had watched how the game was refereed could justify that sending off.

Agree that it was inconsistent not to talk to Greacen and Harding who were at it all game, however I thought the sending off was fair enough. His first booking was his 3rd or 4th foul, and from where I was it looked like the ref had already said to him that if there was another he would be booked. The 2nd booking was maybe a little harsh, but it was a really stupid thing to do when he had already been booked, there was no need to tug Finlayson's shirt.

Even then Lilliey should have scored with only the keeper to beat right after the penalty miss.

Agree with most of what's already been posted. Stirling weren't quite at it in the opening half but still had a great chance from McKenna to be level. Second half we totally dominated until the sending off and I think there is a decent chance we would have won if it had stayed 12 v 11. Just checking the official match stats and there was something like 38 goal attempts..17 for Morton and 21 for the Beanos...so hopefully nobody will accuse us of sticking 10 men behind the ball this time

You do know Morton were the team wearing blue and white hoops today?

I disagree. Many will get much at Cappielow. Our defence is far and away the worst in this league. The goal we conceded was atrocious, free header in the 6 yard box from a corner when we had almost everyone back defending.

Today was the last straw, McInally has to go. Stevenson & Templeman should never play for Morton again.

A professional footballer should not miss the target from 12 yards with just the keeper to beat.

Templeman is shit.

As for JM, I cannot believe that he didn't even consider strengthning the defence in the summer. Anyone who watches Ton regularly knows Greacen & Harding are simply not good enough for this league.

JANUARY SHOPPING LIST
2 centre backs

Dear oh dear. The teams were decent today and Stirling have proven themselves very hard to beat. There's no way that either team are going down this season and your bleats are just those of someone who knows nothing about football.

Morton just about deserved to win but a draw was not unfair. The sending off was soft and probably cost us the game as at that point Stirling settled for the draw. The penalty miss was justice in the end, unlike last week.

Greacan isntg a footballer - more likely he's slept with one. Him being all over Greacan is pot kettle black , hes useless and I love it when he plays against us.

There is just no need for ginger hair and Morton for a full time team are a poor exscuse.

Apart from the opening 20 mins, we were dreadful today. Stirling really went for it at the start of the 2nd half and had a 15 min spell where they looked as though they would go on to win the game. After the sending off, they sat back and tried to hold out for the draw, which they achieved comfortably.

I agree that Stirling are hard to beat, and I think they should have just about enough to stay up. As for us, I think we will be lucky to stay up with a defence as bad as that.

Frustrating stuff, albeit entertaining.

First half Stirling could barely hold onto the ball, and but for some last ditch interceptions we ought to have been more than one ahead.
Second half was a different story. SkinTon pointed to me out that Moore spent the first half noticing that the best way to attack us was between the two central defenders, and Albion promptly caused us all sorts of problems in that area before getting a deserved equaliser. This woke us up a bit and we put the pressure back on, and it was a nice surge by Harding to win the penalty - pity about the result. The red card didn't actually help us and Lilley came closest to winning the game with a clip that almost shaved the post.
Can't grudge Stirling the point for the way they opened up in the second half, but I feel that we should have won this.

They achieved a draw comfortably because we missed a penalty. Having said that, a draw was fair.

Stirling will miss relegation by a few places, maybe 6th/7th. We will finish fourth or fifth.

You watch your game, I'll watch mine.

The ref did that pointing to various parts of the ground thing they do when he gave McKenna the first booking, so he'd obviously had his eye on him for a while. Thought all his fouls were niggly offences rather than anything too bad, and it was pretty harsh to send him off.

Completely agree!

Yaaasss !!



Double Yaaassss !!

The first booking of McKenna was indeed for persistant fouling, as the referee pointed to three different parts of the ground before showing the card. The second booking was a tad harsh, not that we cared at the time. Just as well the entire Morton team surrounded the referee and persuaded him that it was a bookable offence .
The number 9 was presumably subbed to prevent him going the same way.

More likely Cramb was taken off before Stewart Greacen throttled him with another one of his famous (and apparently legal) choke holds

Completely agree. Any player who misses from 12 yards are just simply not good enough. Roberto Baggio should never have made it as a footballer. That penalty miss surely confirms this.

Good game today. I thought a draw was fair in the end.

Our defence looked as shaky as it has all season in the first half, but I still thought we had at least as much of the game as Morton. I do not agree with the Morton posts at the start of the thread beleving that they dominated the first half.

Second half we played really well leading up to our goal, and then the sending off. I thought young McKenna was unlucky for his first booking. None of his fouls looked especially bad. Second booking was just crazy and he put the ref in a difficult position. Or it could be argued that the ref put himself in a difficult position as a result of the soft first booking. Either way a little unfortunate overall.

Morton dominated after that and the penalty was a clear penalty. Woeful effort. There is nothing more soul destroying than a missed penalty when you really need it to go in. We dug in and held out for the point.

Some excellent performances for the binos today. Ross Harris stood out for me.

As for Morton, I thought they were a little dissapointing for the home team, and they appeared to be reluctant to commit too many men forward after they got their first goal. Hopefully both teams will stay up.

Loved the food at the Albert, and thanks guys.

Every chance the hospitality extended today will be reciprocated at the Cricket Club (right next to the Away Stand) on 2nd January.

Aussie Barbeque and Fancy Dress anyone?

Fancy dress, cant you have something different, us Inverclyde folk wear fancy dress every week

Couldnt make it down today but i hope the Stirling lads and lasses if there were any had a good afternoon down at the Albert. I shall however make it to any that are staged by your good supporters

Excellent - I shall expect to see you in your shorts, multi coloured shirt and outback hat with dangly corks.

Feck, i will have to phone my tailors, i ruined that one in Livingston