Greenock Telegraph | Sport | So much at stake for Ton v County

Thursday, 20th November, 2008

Published: Friday, 10th October, 2008 12:30

So much at stake for Ton v County

By Roger Graham

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STRIKING ROLE: Iain Russell will be aiming to gun down Ross County on Sunday.

Pic by: Petra Boyce

MORTON travel to Dingwall on Sunday for a repeat of last weekend’s fixture against Ross County knowing that much more than a place in the Alba Challenge Cup Final is at stake.

After a winless first quarter of the league season, including that 3-0 defeat against County last Saturday, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that this is a club in at a crossroads.

There may be three-quarters of the season remaining, but things are becoming worrying at Cappielow. Club chairman Douglas Rae has said: “We were believed to be infinitely stronger than last season. It hasn’t been that in reality, apart from cup games. It is a really vital situation.”

Manager Davie Irons, meanwhile, has said: “There has been a bit of a comfort zone at Cappielow. I have to ask ‘is there a mentality that can’t handle adversity?’”

He has also been quite critical in public of individual players, something most bosses keep in-house. As a result, the manager was asked if he believed he still had the dressing room behind him, and answered in the affirmative, but it is a side badly in need of a big confidence boost.

The wage bill for the playing staff has been increased by £180,000 and seven of last Saturday’s squad were the new boss’s signings.

After the recent defeat at Firhill I wrote that it was difficult to see in recent performances from where Morton’s salvation was to come. It is a team whose performances are less than the individual ability of its component parts, but there has been an air of inevitablity at times about the team’s league decline.

We all know confidence and motivation are such big factors in sport, and football is no different to any other in that respect. Opposing managers invariably talk of Morton being a big, physical team, who play, to quote one, ‘a certain way’, i.e. being set up in order to stop the opposition.

That may be by virtue of circumstances and fear rather than design, but it has neither been pretty to watch nor, more importantly, productive in terms of results.

Manager Davie Irons believes one result, one victory, can be the catalyst to better things. That has to happen soon before Morton become dangerously cut adrift at the foot of the table. Already there is a five-point gap between them and second and third bottom Clyde and Airdrie.

Sunday’s semi-final is important, therefore, and far more than simply as a route to a final.

It may be premature to talk of it being crucial, but another defeat would put enormous pressure on management.

It has been said ad infinitum, but at the end of the day it is a results business. Morton, to put it simply, can not afford to drop out of the First Division.

The hope for their fans must be that Sunday can provide a boost which carries over into positive results against Clyde and Dundee in the next two league games at Cappielow.

There is no doubt that Morton as a club have under-achieved in recent years given their potential support and relative financial clout in comparison to others in the SFL.

Sunday is as much about morale as getting to a final. The next three games are very important indeed.

All at the club will be aiming to make Sunday the start of the rest of the season; the day when uncertainty, fear and doubts are replaced by focus, confidence and unity.

Perhaps the very adversity of their situation will draw everyone together. It is a time for the top players to give top performances.

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