Published: Monday, 29th December, 2008 12:30pm

Ton pay penalty for Smith gaffe

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MORTON were dragged back toward the foot of the table after a defensive disaster gave Airdrie United a stepping stone to victory.

But Ton manager Davie Irons refused to be too strong in his condemnation of left-back Chris Smith, whose short pass-back led to Airdrie"s winning penalty.

Simon Lynch intercepted the ball after Smith"s gaffe, before being felled in the box by Kevin Cuthbert, who was then sent off.

The manager added: 'Chris Smith is a young lad and his decision-making will determine whether he can continue playing at First Division level.

'The difference between good players and average players is their decision-making.

'After the incident, I said to him, "You"ve not got a right foot, so you"re not going to get any power in the pass-back.

'I"m sure he"ll get over it. It"s when players keep doing the same things that you need to worry about them.

'It wasn"t a punishment substituting Chris after Kevin Cuthbert was sent off. We had to bring on another keeper anyway and you do worry a wee bit about a player"s confidence after something like that happens.

'I don"t like the last-man rule and I"m not just saying that because our keeper got punished.

'But you"ve just got to live with it and it was an easy decision for the referee to make.

'At that point Airdrie had only one up anyway so we went with a back three.

'When you need to get back into a game it"s important to keep your two strikers on the pitch and use your midfield. I felt the boys at the back coped well with the three in the second half.'

Irons acknowledged that Morton had been in control in the early stages of the match.

He admitted: 'We dominated for the first twenty or so minutes and I think we had six shots on target during that period, with Allan Jenkins having the best chance of them all.

'The sending off totally changed the game. Airdrie got their goal and a lift and we were forced to reshuffle.

'In the second half we worked hard to try and get back into it but we never really created very much. If we hadn"t lost a man it would have been a different game though.

'James Grady feels he was tripped when he was through on goal in the second half but we didn"t get anything out of that.'

Irons is hoping to lift the festive gloom at the club by announcing later today that Grady has signed a new deal.

The veteran striker has been on loan from Hamilton Accies since October and Saturday"s defeat could have been his last game for Ton.

However, terms are close to being agreed and the influential Grady will be part of Irons" plans for the second half of the season.

The boss announced: 'We"ve been working on a deal for James Grady and hope to make an announcement to the fans as soon as possible.

'Obviously, the supporters have been anxious to know what"s happening with him and keeping a hold of James is very important to us. Hopefully we"ll have it all sorted out very quickly.'

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