Greenock Telegraph | Sport | Morton are ready

Thursday, 20th November, 2008

Published: Friday, 5th September, 2008 12:30

Morton are ready

By Roger Graham

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Irons: Players have responded well to defeat

Image related to story, see caption or article text

BUBBLING OVER: The champagne flows as Morton celebrate being named as team of the round in the Cop-op Insurance Cup after beating Hibs 4-2 at Easter Road. Striker Iain Russell, who scored twice against the Hibees, holds the award, with the League Cup Trophy in the foreground. Morton also won team of the round after beating Stranraer 6-3 in the first stage of the competition. The Cappielow club, who were snapped at their training ground at Quarriers Village, now meet Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Tuesday 23 September in a home tie which kicks-off at 7.45pm

Pic by: Kenny Ramsay

MORTON boss Davie Irons believes everyone in the Cappielow camp has responded in the right manner to the 5-0 defeat at Airdrie last Saturday.

He said: “I don’t want to re-open old wounds, but last week was unnacceptable in every respect.

“The players have responded and know what went wrong. All of us — and I am not passing the buck onto the players — I mean all of us — have to make sure we get ourselves picked up and ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

“We need a level of consistency. We’ve had our serious side [this week] and our fun, but every one of the players has given one hundred per cent.”

Definitely out of contention for a place this Sunday in the team to meet Queen of the South in the Alba Challenge Cup are the suspended Allan McManus and the injured Stewart Greacen whose groin strain has not cleared as quickly as had been hoped.

But, there is better news on the injury front. Dominic Shimmin, taken off with a knock last Saturday, will be okay, while both Kevin Finlayson and Alex Walker trained today. If there is no adverse reaction, they will take their part in the squad for Sunday.

Also in contention is goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert who was taken off early in the first half at Airdrie suffering from a virus. He took part in training yesterday.

Meanwhile, Morton played a trialist striker against Partick Thistle this week in a closed door match. Davie Irons said: “He’s a lad from London who has played at Reading. We’ll have another look at him next week.”

The search for another striker is necessitated by the departure on loan until January of Jon Newby to Burton Albion. Said Davie Irons: “It’s disappointing that it hasn’t worked out. He came highly recommended and we thought he might improve us. He started in the side, but then we changed things. I don’t know if him staying in Bury has been a factor. He stayed with us during the week, but it’s not ideal.”

Meanwhile Peter Weatherson will now be considered as a front player. Irons said: “We’ll be looking on Peter as a striker as opposed to a defender. He has been a bit of a jack of all trades and that maybe hasn’t been helpful to his performance.”

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