Box Office G Morton v R County tap o the league title-decider clash

[Scosha]

Tidser's goal was superb, but that's an unbelievable finish from McHugh. I thought it was a cracker at the time but watching it over on the highlights and it's better than I remembered. 

[M0rtonfc]

2 hours ago, Rajamaki's Ponytail said:

Aye, get McHugh tae f**k right enough.

Yes he scored the winner, but his overall game is pish and has been for some time now, 1 winning strike doesn't change that ffs!

 

[bunglebonce]

 

Great photo.   Tony Dingwall's expression tells a story.

[TheScarf]

Is that Tony Dingwall on the left?  You guys must be struggling for players if he's getting a game.

[dingdong1929]

3 hours ago, TheScarf said:

Is that Tony Dingwall on the left?  You guys must be struggling for players if he's getting a game.

Yep, he played rightback.
We've only got six defenders in the squad, one just back from injury (Fontaine), and three out with injury (Fraser, Watson, and Stelios).
Then you look at the crazy levels of depth in our midfield and striker options 
I think its bad luck more than poor squad management though, with Tony a bit of an odd choice for RB ahead of Mullin, Draper, or similar.
I actually thought he did ok in the role, especially given how good Morton were.

[dingdong1929]

I've always had a soft spot for Morton, since the days of Marco Rajamaki and Allan McGraw.  Cappielow is one of my favourite stadiums too.
And with the prospect of Tidser   Millar and McAlister against Vigurs Draper and Cowie  I was well looking forward to the game.
But it was a weird atmosphere in the away end, given half of us weren't there, and for such a horrible reason.

• We had a back 4 of Kelly, Fontaine, Morris, and Tony D, with most of our fear reserved for the two fullbacks.  But one Kelly pass-back aside (where our #3 put Morton's #3 through on our goal), I thought they played really well, consistently putting in quality crosses.  Fontaine in his first (proper) game back looked fit and sharp.
• Draper Cowie and Vigurs did as expected in midfield, albeit Draper was breaking forward as discussed by Bunglebonce earlier, and he really should have scored when he smashed a header off the bar.  Cowie also did well first half,  even rounding the keeper to pull the ball back, but no-one had bothered to break into the box to follow it up. 
  Vigurs swaggered about dreamily hitting some great passes, pulled out some great tackles and clearances on the line, but also hit a couple of too-ambitious ones and tested the ref on occasion.  Only a sweet free-kick away from the full Vigurs package.
• Mullin and Gardyne were busy out wide and had nice moments, albeit Mullin looked a little quieter than other games with Morton pressing well and not allowing him much space. DKD did ok when he came on for Mullin, but suffered similarly.  Gardyne was busy drifting everywhere and had a good game I thought.
• McManus was pretty poor I thought.  Maybe harsh, as it wasn't so much that he didn't do anything, but that Kilday(?)  in particular didn't let him do anything.
  Morton as a whole sat back and pressed very well, which is largely why we had to rely on Kelly and Tony D putting in good balls from fullback positions (which they did in first half).
  But I thought Kilday in particular read the game better than McManus, and seemed faster, and better in the air. 
  He wasn't as strong, but the ref blew for every 50/50 going (and some fouls obviously) so McManus offered very little.   
  I'm a bit frustrated by McManus, I've noticed a habit of pointing where he wants the ball, stopping waiting for the pass, then running and being beaten to the ball.  
  He's also not great in the air, and his touch isn't good enough to bring the ball under control when he's only being afforded glimpses of it.
  Which is harsh  in games where he gets more space and can play his game, but i thought Morton  had his number and we suffered for a lack of presence up front while he played.
  Graham came on and was immediately more of a threat, but by this point we weren't getting as much of the ball into the box, so unfortunately for us it wasn't enough.
• Only other sub was MacKay for Draper, but Morton were sat in by then and for all his tidy play he didn't/couldn't contribute anything significant.
• Ref (Aitken) was fucking terrible.  We were right in the corner, the other end from the penalty incident, so have no idea of that, but some of the fouls against us, and for us, defied belief.  One of the worst ones, shortly after the penalty shout, we had the ball in the box, header back, header back, then had it on the edge of the box - and were suddenly offside. Also Vigurs hit one from distance, it bounced off a Morton player with no County player near, and made an *I've bounced off a Morton player!* noise, and it was a goal-kick.
  My view may be obscured by bias and iron beams, but the guy was clueless throughout and lost the game and players a couple of times. Just laughably bad by the end.
  For both teams though, so it's absolutely nothing to do with why we lost.

Thought the first half was pretty good, with County shading it.

Second half Morton seemed more incisive, and we started getting slack.
One moment in particular from Morris when he rocked into midfield, passed inside, then watched in horror (and out of position) as he passed straight to a Morton player who ran through  on our goal.  A few other slack moments, especially when building from the back, or pushing forward and passing behind players etc. and losing momentum.
Then Vigurs played a great pass, and Cowie scored a very composed 1-on-1, which I hoped would settle us.
Instead Tidser found (too much) room at the edge of our box and scored a worldy within about 60 seconds.
It was then pretty to-and-fro, with Morton looking more dangerous than us, especially given how increasingly frustrated  McManus was.
The second Morton goal came, with a lot of head tennis ending in Morris shouting for a ball into the box, missing it, and McHugh (who was free in Morris's RCB) position scoring a great finish on the turn.  I thought Morris should have left it to Fontaine, given McHugh's position, but someone (BungleBonce?) makes the point that Dingwall (our rightback) should have tucked in to cover Morris - which is a good point. 
In the build-up to that goal Vigurs was flattened trying to clear it , which I thought was a clear foul, but as the highlights don't' include it I think it must have been much earlier in the move and so is a moot (as well as irrelevant and bitter) point.

Morton pretty much sat in after that, battering it up to Johnstone.  As dismissive as that sounds, they did have a couple of breakaway opportunities which we just about managed to deal with.  Also seem a very 'street-wise' team. 
We were very pedestrian for that last 15minutes or so, playing a lot of sideways passes, slack passes, and going nowhere.
We had one particularly good moment (may have been earlier in match tbh) where Vigurs literally strolled 2/3 of the pitch then lofted a ball onto Brian Graham's head, but given Graham's position he had to twist to head it on, and I think the keeper saved it.  Was all about Vigurs though.
Generally, we were maddeningly easy to defend against, especially given the number of quality crosses into the box in the first half, and especially given we now had Brian Graham on who could actually get on the end of a cross.  The lack of shots from distance was also hugely frustrating, working it to 30 yards from goal and electing to pass it out for our wide players to tussle with a Morton defender, every time.
But kudos to the Morton team for being so well organised and pressing so well.

Overall I'd have thought a draw was fair, but Morton defended well all game, and were a real threat a number of times during the second half when they pushed forward.
We were ordinary I thought.
I'd like to think that Graham starting for/with McManus, and any of Fraser/Watson/Stelios being fit and starting at RB would have seen a better performance and scoreline, but that maybe takes away from how good Morton were, and how much better we needed to be (not a huge amount better, but definite room for improvement).

Only other thing worth mentioning was the dozens of absolutely hammered boys in suits in the middle of the stand, over from us.
They tried to give it the big GIRFUY after Tidser scored, but we were applauding it as it was a great goal and we like Tidser.  Not sure if there were a couple of County fans taking their bait and bamming them up?  
Otherwise, they seemed to have a great time, so we were wondering if hospitality at Cappielow is worth looking at for next time??
 

tl;dr - good game, Morton edged it, hospitality worthwhile?

[TONTROOPER]

3 hours ago, dingdong1929 said:

I've always had a soft spot for Morton, since the days of Marco Rajamaki and Allan McGraw.  Cappielow is one of my favourite stadiums too.
And with the prospect of Tidser   Millar and McAlister against Vigurs Draper and Cowie  I was well looking forward to the game.
But it was a weird atmosphere in the away end, given half of us weren't there, and for such a horrible reason.

• We had a back 4 of Kelly, Fontaine, Morris, and Tony D, with most of our fear reserved for the two fullbacks.  But one Kelly pass-back aside (where our #3 put Morton's #3 through on our goal), I thought they played really well, consistently putting in quality crosses.  Fontaine in his first (proper) game back looked fit and sharp.
• Draper Cowie and Vigurs did as expected in midfield, albeit Draper was breaking forward as discussed by Bunglebonce earlier, and he really should have scored when he smashed a header off the bar.  Cowie also did well first half,  even rounding the keeper to pull the ball back, but no-one had bothered to break into the box to follow it up. 
  Vigurs swaggered about dreamily hitting some great passes, pulled out some great tackles and clearances on the line, but also hit a couple of too-ambitious ones and tested the ref on occasion.  Only a sweet free-kick away from the full Vigurs package.
• Mullin and Gardyne were busy out wide and had nice moments, albeit Mullin looked a little quieter than other games with Morton pressing well and not allowing him much space. DKD did ok when he came on for Mullin, but suffered similarly.  Gardyne was busy drifting everywhere and had a good game I thought.
• McManus was pretty poor I thought.  Maybe harsh, as it wasn't so much that he didn't do anything, but that Kilday(?)  in particular didn't let him do anything.
  Morton as a whole sat back and pressed very well, which is largely why we had to rely on Kelly and Tony D putting in good balls from fullback positions (which they did in first half).
  But I thought Kilday in particular read the game better than McManus, and seemed faster, and better in the air. 
  He wasn't as strong, but the ref blew for every 50/50 going (and some fouls obviously) so McManus offered very little.   
  I'm a bit frustrated by McManus, I've noticed a habit of pointing where he wants the ball, stopping waiting for the pass, then running and being beaten to the ball.  
  He's also not great in the air, and his touch isn't good enough to bring the ball under control when he's only being afforded glimpses of it.
  Which is harsh  in games where he gets more space and can play his game, but i thought Morton  had his number and we suffered for a lack of presence up front while he played.
  Graham came on and was immediately more of a threat, but by this point we weren't getting as much of the ball into the box, so unfortunately for us it wasn't enough.
• Only other sub was MacKay for Draper, but Morton were sat in by then and for all his tidy play he didn't/couldn't contribute anything significant.
• Ref (Aitken) was fucking terrible.  We were right in the corner, the other end from the penalty incident, so have no idea of that, but some of the fouls against us, and for us, defied belief.  One of the worst ones, shortly after the penalty shout, we had the ball in the box, header back, header back, then had it on the edge of the box - and were suddenly offside. Also Vigurs hit one from distance, it bounced off a Morton player with no County player near, and made an *I've bounced off a Morton player!* noise, and it was a goal-kick.
  My view may be obscured by bias and iron beams, but the guy was clueless throughout and lost the game and players a couple of times. Just laughably bad by the end.
  For both teams though, so it's absolutely nothing to do with why we lost.

Thought the first half was pretty good, with County shading it.

Second half Morton seemed more incisive, and we started getting slack.
One moment in particular from Morris when he rocked into midfield, passed inside, then watched in horror (and out of position) as he passed straight to a Morton player who ran through  on our goal.  A few other slack moments, especially when building from the back, or pushing forward and passing behind players etc. and losing momentum.
Then Vigurs played a great pass, and Cowie scored a very composed 1-on-1, which I hoped would settle us.
Instead Tidser found (too much) room at the edge of our box and scored a worldy within about 60 seconds.
It was then pretty to-and-fro, with Morton looking more dangerous than us, especially given how increasingly frustrated  McManus was.
The second Morton goal came, with a lot of head tennis ending in Morris shouting for a ball into the box, missing it, and McHugh (who was free in Morris's RCB) position scoring a great finish on the turn.  I thought Morris should have left it to Fontaine, given McHugh's position, but someone (BungleBonce?) makes the point that Dingwall (our rightback) should have tucked in to cover Morris - which is a good point. 
In the build-up to that goal Vigurs was flattened trying to clear it , which I thought was a clear foul, but as the highlights don't' include it I think it must have been much earlier in the move and so is a moot (as well as irrelevant and bitter) point.

Morton pretty much sat in after that, battering it up to Johnstone.  As dismissive as that sounds, they did have a couple of breakaway opportunities which we just about managed to deal with.  Also seem a very 'street-wise' team. 
We were very pedestrian for that last 15minutes or so, playing a lot of sideways passes, slack passes, and going nowhere.
We had one particularly good moment (may have been earlier in match tbh) where Vigurs literally strolled 2/3 of the pitch then lofted a ball onto Brian Graham's head, but given Graham's position he had to twist to head it on, and I think the keeper saved it.  Was all about Vigurs though.
Generally, we were maddeningly easy to defend against, especially given the number of quality crosses into the box in the first half, and especially given we now had Brian Graham on who could actually get on the end of a cross.  The lack of shots from distance was also hugely frustrating, working it to 30 yards from goal and electing to pass it out for our wide players to tussle with a Morton defender, every time.
But kudos to the Morton team for being so well organised and pressing so well.

Overall I'd have thought a draw was fair, but Morton defended well all game, and were a real threat a number of times during the second half when they pushed forward.
We were ordinary I thought.
I'd like to think that Graham starting for/with McManus, and any of Fraser/Watson/Stelios being fit and starting at RB would have seen a better performance and scoreline, but that maybe takes away from how good Morton were, and how much better we needed to be (not a huge amount better, but definite room for improvement).

Only other thing worth mentioning was the dozens of absolutely hammered boys in suits in the middle of the stand, over from us.
They tried to give it the big GIRFUY after Tidser scored, but we were applauding it as it was a great goal and we like Tidser.  Not sure if there were a couple of County fans taking their bait and bamming them up?  
Otherwise, they seemed to have a great time, so we were wondering if hospitality at Cappielow is worth looking at for next time??
 

tl;dr - good game, Morton edged it, hospitality worthwhile?

Jeezuz H...………..that isn't a post......that's an e-book.

[dingdong1929]

3 minutes ago, TONTROOPER said:

Jeezuz H...………..that isn't a post......that's an e-book.

I accept paypal.

[TONTROOPER]

1 minute ago, dingdong1929 said:

I accept paypal.

…..   online banking?....no thanks....will you accept a Czech?

[dingdong1929]

34 minutes ago, TONTROOPER said:

…..   online banking?....no thanks....will you accept a Czech?

Seems a Prague-matic solution.

(Sorry, thats fuckin awful!)

[Rudolph Hucker]

13 hours ago, TONTROOPER said:

Jeezuz H...………..that isn't a post......that's an e-book.

He's worse than Dunning.

Or better.

Both, maybe.

[Rudolph Hucker]

11 hours ago, TONTROOPER said:

…..   online banking?....no thanks....will you accept a Czech?

 

10 hours ago, dingdong1929 said:

Seems a Prague-matic solution.

(Sorry, thats fuckin awful!)

How bout an underpowered Dyson?

.......a slow vac?

(Sorry, that's fucking worse.

You started it, mind.)

[tigerton]

19 hours ago, dingdong1929 said:

Only other thing worth mentioning was the dozens of absolutely hammered boys in suits in the middle of the stand, over from us.
They tried to give it the big GIRFUY after Tidser scored, but we were applauding it as it was a great goal and we like Tidser.  Not sure if there were a couple of County fans taking their bait and bamming them up?  
Otherwise, they seemed to have a great time, so we were wondering if hospitality at Cappielow is worth looking at for next time??
 

tl;dr - good game, Morton edged it, hospitality worthwhile?

Good post. I was in hospitality (but wasn't wearing a suit and wasn't hammered, yet).  There were a few County fans on the edge of hospitality giving it the GIUY's after the opening goal, but nothing more than usual.

As a side note. I tend to do hospitality once or twice a year, and Saturday was by far the worst service we've ever had. The staff seem to have been retrained this year to withhold drink from those who have paid for the free bar. Extra rounds of tea/coffee as well as new rules about how much drink you can have left before ordering a new one, all lead to a lot of agro after the game. For whatever extra I paid for the free bar, I managed to get 5 beers off them. And that was a struggle.

[madton]

26 minutes ago, tigerton said:

Good post. I was in hospitality (but wasn't wearing a suit and wasn't hammered, yet).  There were a few County fans on the edge of hospitality giving it the GIUY's after the opening goal, but nothing more than usual.

As a side note. I tend to do hospitality once or twice a year, and Saturday was by far the worst service we've ever had. The staff seem to have been retrained this year to withhold drink from those who have paid for the free bar. Extra rounds of tea/coffee as well as new rules about how much drink you can have left before ordering a new one, all lead to a lot of agro after the game. For whatever extra I paid for the free bar, I managed to get 5 beers off them. And that was a struggle.

I'm in for the Ayr game at the end of Sept. Like you, try and go every year and always had a good time.

What was the reason  for holding back drink at a free bar?? Sustainability? 

 

[dingdong1929]

34 minutes ago, tigerton said:

Good post. I was in hospitality (but wasn't wearing a suit and wasn't hammered, yet).  There were a few County fans on the edge of hospitality giving it the GIUY's after the opening goal, but nothing more than usual.

As a side note. I tend to do hospitality once or twice a year, and Saturday was by far the worst service we've ever had. The staff seem to have been retrained this year to withhold drink from those who have paid for the free bar. Extra rounds of tea/coffee as well as new rules about how much drink you can have left before ordering a new one, all lead to a lot of agro after the game. For whatever extra I paid for the free bar, I managed to get 5 beers off them. And that was a struggle.

Ah, fair enough then with the Tidser goal, that makes more sense.

The new hospitality rules sound pretty convoluted ?! Think we'll just stick with the bars in town!
Thanks tigerton

[dingdong1929]

5 hours ago, Rudolph Hucker said:

 

How bout an underpowered Dyson?

.......a slow vac?

(Sorry, that's fucking worse.

You started it, mind.)

a solid effort!

[Alibi]

I'd agree about McManus.  When he was with us a few years ago he was a decent striker and had searing pace, but he seems remarkably ineffective now.  Has he maybe slowed up a bit?  He was never the greatest footballer but his pace got him into scoring positions.  He also seems to be a surly wee misery, and I've rarely seen such a round-shouldered professional footballer.  used to worry about us when he was in the opposition line up, but not any more.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

He was pacey with us but more to him than that. He scored goals from all angles and not afraid to have a dig or take a man on. I think Fleetwood drained his confidence a bit.

Or maybe he was just a "flat track bully" (to use a god-awful phrase) in the seaside leagues

[cornbeef]

1 hour ago, tigerton said:

Good post. I was in hospitality (but wasn't wearing a suit and wasn't hammered, yet).  There were a few County fans on the edge of hospitality giving it the GIUY's after the opening goal, but nothing more than usual.

As a side note. I tend to do hospitality once or twice a year, and Saturday was by far the worst service we've ever had. The staff seem to have been retrained this year to withhold drink from those who have paid for the free bar. Extra rounds of tea/coffee as well as new rules about how much drink you can have left before ordering a new one, all lead to a lot of agro after the game. For whatever extra I paid for the free bar, I managed to get 5 beers off them. And that was a struggle.

Agree about hospitality . The staff appear to be on a short leash when it comes to supplying the 'free'  drink.  A marked difference when you're on a pay bar...  they're round you like wasps. Doesn't stop me doing hospitality but the ' paisley man' approach to the free bar service is a bit irritating.

  

 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

The "free bar" package at hospitality is pish anyway. Ye need to neck yer pints to fit enough in to make it worth yer money. Much better just throwing a few bob into a kitty.