Published: Monday, 2nd February, 2009 12:30pm

Honours even

Morton 0 St Johnstone

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APPEAL WON: Referee Craig Thomson, above, changes his decision to award a penalty to St Johnstone after consulting his linesman. Left: Peter Weatherson wins a challenge with Stuart McCaffrey.
Pic by: David Bell

MORTON boss Davie Irons summed up this draw against the league leaders at Cappielow on Saturday as a hard-earned point.

He said: 'There weren"t a lot of real clear-cut chances at either end. St Johnstone will maybe argue that they"ve had one off the bar.

'I had my heart in my mouthwhen the referee pointed to the spot when it"s been two or three yards outside the box, but credit to him, he realised he had made a mistake.

'Then we had a chance right at the death when Peter spun and hit one. He caught it perfectly but the defender got a wee block on it.

'If I am being critical, we didn"t really create too many chances today, but the effort and workrate was exemplary from our point of view. It was certainly a hard-earned point.'

That penalty decision had come with 10 minutes remaining of the match when Saints" attacking full-back Gary Irvine had made a run through only to have his heels clicked by Morton"s Chris Smith just outside the box. Initially referee Thomson pointed immediately to the sport. As the Morton players protested, Thomson looked to his far side assistant and, after consultation, reversed his decision.

As both Irvine and his manager, Derek McInnes, later admitted, it was the right decision.

St Johnstone, however, had reason to feel aggrieved at an earlier ruling by the referee when he dismissed appeals for a penalty when Stevie Masterton brought down Jody Morris in the penalty area.

Irons paid a compliment to his opponents when he said: 'St Johnstone are obviously a good side. They"ve come here and caused us a few problems, without creating too many goalscoring opportunities.

'It keeps our home record quite decent, though draws aren"t always particularly beneficial in this league.'

'If we"re going to compete at the top in this league we"ve got to show that sort of determination against a very good side.'

Irons confirmed that he believes St Johnstone will win the league and said: 'I tipped them at the start and I"m not going to change my mind over that. It"s interesting.

'It"s the first time they"ve been on top of a league for some years. They"ll be looking over their shoulders a wee bit. It is a different experience for them. But Derek [McInnes] has had experience of that as a player and I"m sure he"ll be able to guide his team through it.'

Saints boss Derek McInnes felt his side should have come away with all three points, saying: 'I thought we were excellent. For the first 15 or 20 minutes we were great.

'Then we got involved in a battle with them, got involved in their style of play. I asked the players at half-time to get the ball down and use the width of the pitch and try and get down both sides.

'Gary Irvine pushed on and Liam Craig pushed on and dominated the play. I thought there was one team trying to go and win it, and there was another team hoping to win it.

'You can see why Morton have such a good home record. They"re difficult to play against. They are going along very well at the moment, but we were trying to get the ball down and play and create chances. We should have scored and sometimes you are hoping that you get a break. It should have come when Jody Morris got brought down. Anywhere outside the box that"s a free kick.

'I did say to Craig Thomson, the referee, that I thought he got it wrong. But there"s nothing we can do about it.

'I thought it was a penalty kick and that"s maybe the wee break you are looking for. In terms of my players" application and desire to win a game, it was there in abundance. In the second half I thought we were excellent.'

As for the referee"s decision to change his mind after awarding a penalty when Gary Irvine was brought down, McInnes said: 'I thought he got that right. I thought it was outside the box. I have no complaint about that one.'