As the saying goes, it was a game of two halves.

About the only interesting thing to happen in the opening 45 minutes was the two Morton fans having a scrap on the away terrace before they got lifted by the plod.

The second 45 minutes was a good bit better. Morton hit the woodwork twice, first a shot that cam off the underside of the bar and the inside of the post before being hooked clear. Morton also had a shot off the top of the cross bar.

But with 15 minutes to go, the best move of the entire match brought about the first goal. It was a good passing mover on the left of the field, the ball being cut back to take the keeper out of the game and then substitute Richie Hart slotted in from about 8 yards out.

Then within a minute County were 2-0 up. Right from the restart Mark McCulloch won the ball, played it to Strachan, who did superb to skip past the full back before firing in a deep cross, Steven Craig dived low to head into the bottom corner.

That pretty much killed off Morton, and then Higgins (who seemed to change the game when he came on for Daal) got the ball ont he edge of the box, he took a touch before curling it into the top right corner of the goal.

County could have had a few others after that, but I think that would have been greedy and probably a bit unfair on Morton !

Trust Greenockwegians to let the side down like that. I wonder what they were fighting over; Iron's tactics, Buckie, or might it just have been a case of bad breeding?

I'll just c&p from what I put on the County forum.

It's a funny old game an' all that.

We should have gone 1 up almost immediately after a very bright start. Poor as the first half was we were still the better side and Morton offered absolutely nothing, it was easy seeing how this team are bottom of the league. Then in the 2nd half they were gifted 3 brilliant chances, hitting the woodwork twice and placing a free header right in Bullock's clutches which again makes it easy to see why they're bottom of the league if that's the best they could do with them. Then all of a sudden it feels like a massive reprieve as Adams's substitutions change the game and Hart puts us 1 up and before you get over that it's 2-0. Followed shortly by another beautiful strike by Higgy to make it 3.

One of the guys, then had a go at the police office, and were both soon huckled away.

Great result and a great three points. With alot of home games to come over the next quarter I really hope we can build on this and get us safe into mid table. A win similar to this next week to get our only second live match on television would be sweet as well.

I have not yet seen St Johnstone this season, and so I do not feel qualified to post on the "First quarter" thread. But of the teams that I have seen, Ross County have struck me as the best to have come to Broadwood. Today's result is not a surprise to me, and I think that there will be some more highland spankings in the weeks to come - ourselves included.

There is a dearth of Morton fans on this thread tonight.

The crises are being played out on the Morton board. I thank you RC fans for the match details that haven't been forthcoming elsewhere. It appears we were shit but had a few golden opportunities. Same as usual.

Its never over till the fat lady sings but she better get her finger out very soon.

As for the Morton fans fighting, thats bollox, there was a few insults thrown at a player and a bit of an argument between fans took place, the lad who you say struggled with police was actually acting as a peace maker during the original incident.

That may well have been the worst football game I've ever seen, up there with the first Edinburgh derby of the 07/08 season. Yes, that bad.

County are pish, but fortunately for them we're far worse. It speaks volumes that the most notable incidents of the game occured on the terraces. If there was justice in football, that game would have finished 0-0 and both teams would have had at least 10 point deducted for bringing the game into disrepute by being so unspeakably shit.

Although it has to be said that the quality of the strike for the third goal alone means County deserved the points. Even what remained of the completely gutted Morton support applauded that.

Wow, that is what you call a "heated debate".

Sounds like Derek Adams "out-thought" Davie Irons. Some surprise there then.

Wow, that is what you call a "heated debate".

Sounds like Derek Adams "out-thought" Davie Irons. Some surprise there then.

The first half was pretty dull, so the swift movement of the Northern Constabularies finest caught my attention, and as they moved down the stairs you could see two fans embracing each other (I was seeing from the other end of the pitch but they looked to be exchanging finger prints). The police pulled them apart and lead them both away. One went quite quietly, the other made a bit of resistance and flew a few punches at the police officer.

There was then a third fan down at the front talking to a player, who was shown back onto the terrace by the police/stewards. He didn't seem to be causing any problems at all - We assumed he was highlighting something the police had done to his mate or something.





I saw one guy in the away support jumping about like a mad man when the third goal went in, quite bizzarre,

The two lads you say were squaring up to each other are pals and both traveled on the train together, like I said the one who did do a little remonstrating with the officers whilst being ejected from the ground was initially actually acting as a peace maker and took offence to being ejected from the ground for doing so. I can assure you there was no punches thrown at the two police officers and there was no punches thrown or exchanged between fans, if there were they would have been charged and held in custody instead of being told to leave the vicinity of the ground and go for a beer.

The 3rd fan you talk of was a mate of mine and was laughing and joking with the player on the receiving end of the abuse, at no time was he escorted away or told to move, in fact thats where he had being standing the whole 1st half.

Strange how you see thing from the other end of the park.






I would say bizarre in the least but thats Morton fans for you.

No doubt cheering and shouting "Yes! Now we're bound to be rid of Irons!"

I think 3-0 flattered us tbh, but we've played better in other games and taken nothing, so happy to take it.
Not much between the teams until we scored, and it could have been very different if Morton had scored instead of hitting woodwork twice.
3 well taken goals, the subs changed the game, and surely now Higgy deserves his starting place again?

I would also think Hart will start next week with Lawson dropping to the bench.

If only football games were decided on quality rather than number of goals eh?

interesting to remember how much you slagged us when we employed jim mcinally.thank goodness you've managed to get davie irons in

in case you are interested.jim mac is now settling in nicely.we won 5-2 last week ,and drew 0-0 away to the 2nd top of the league.even the cowden fans thought we were robbed of 3 points.(this was in no small way to do with jim mac's exellent tactical awareness.)

still - you've got davie irons now.

Settling in? he was there from last season and was second bottom of the worst proffessional league in the country despite buying players from higher leagues in the summer. A win and a draw doesn't change the fact your owner expected you to be pushing for promotion, which you might have done if you employed a decent manager.

JM has found his level now at the bottom end of the third division, and i'd choose the bottom of the first division with davie irons over the bottom of the 3rd division with Jim Mcinally anyday.

Yes, I'd gladly swap our position now to either 2nd Division football under a JM-led Morton or 3rd Division obscurity under a JM-led East Stirling.
He signed Brian Graham on loan you twat.

how many games have morton won 'you twat' ?

Well we utterly horsed some shitty 3rd Division mob in the cup, led by a blithering imbecile who though John Hillcoat was a first choice goalkeeper. Itr was played at Ochilview for some strange reason yet it wasn't Stenny... hmmm...

How many games have East Stirling won in the first division this season?

that is like saying the the manager of Stenhousemuir is better than Juande Ramos because they have won more games than spurs this season.

Or like saying the manager of my old high school's under 15's team is better than Mcinally because he's won more games, although to be honest it would be a close call.

You can sit there and cream yourself over a man who has you sitting 2nd bottom of the table having only won two games in the lowest proffessional league in Scotland, and one of those wins was against the worst team in the league, i realise as a club you are used to failure but this is ridiculous.....show some ambition. With a decent manager you could have at least been in a play-off spot with the players that were brought in during the summer and the backing of your owner.

oh dear oh dear - if thats the best you can do i'll say no more.if the 'mighty' morton are happy with the 'great davie irons' thats fine by me.real ambition that hope you get your ist league win before january.

Hi Jim McInally. *Waves to Jim McInally*.
Now f**k off.

Nobody said we're happy with Davie Irons, but he's a much better manager than Jim Mcinally, although so is my left testicle.

I hope i never celebrate not finishing bottom of the worst league in scotland for the first time in years as if we have won the champions league.

But fair play to them, support yer local team!

Naw, wait...

** waves back **

If McInally was still Morton manager we'd be back in the second division already. Davie Irons being an inept manager doesn't mean that McInally isn't one

It said in one of the papers that Irons kept his players in the dressing room for an hour after the game. I hope we are going to invoice Morton for the extra electricity etc..

I'm glad he had a rotten day, after his last visit here with Gretna in that game when we were relegated and Gretna won the championship.

I'm not sure how yesterdays game will affect next Sundays semi-final.
However given the choice I'm sure most Staggies would have preferred the 3 points yesterday as opposed to another diddy cup final appearance?

It'd be the three points every time, Dolphin. The last time we won the thing, we got relegated after all! Easy choice.

Anyway, if either team deserved a win yesterday, it was County. Explosive starts to each half could have been rewarded with goals. Daal certainly should have scored in the first minute. We played some good stuff during both spells, but they lasted barely five minutes each. Excellent build up for Hart to score, first rate one touch passing that had Morton chasing shadows. After that, they were in disarray and we capitalised as the confidence shot up.

Would've been much more relaxed if they'd pulled that out of the bag in the first 15 minutes, but it's a good win, and other scores worked in our favour too. Happy days.

I managed to visit Culloden before the game, thus taking in the sites of two catastrophic defeats in one day. The first half was shocking so it's a small mercy that some football was played in the second. The result may have been different if one of the chances that fell to Weatherson had gone in - he really should have buried the one he hit off the top of the bar - but that's only speculation now. This season's shaping up to be a lot of fun.