Published: Monday, 9th March, 2009 10:36am

Ton make a good away point

Queen of the South 1 Morton 1

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So close: Former Morton goalie Lee Robinson brings off a fine save to deny Iain Russell at a goal at a crucial stage of the game.
Pic by: David Bell

NORMALLY a point at Palmerston would leave the visiting manager with feelings of a job well done, but Ton boss Davie Irons believed his team deserved more.

He said afterwards: 'There is a real sense of disappointment in the dressing room, and I think that to come here and be disappointed not to get a win says a lot for the boys.

'I keep reading that we"re a big, physical team. I think we"re more than that. But it"s one of these things - if you tell people often enough that that"s the way we play, they start believing it.

'I"m delighted at the way we played. I"m delighted with the boys and delighted with their attitude and we"ve got some good footballers in the team as well.

'Arsene Wenger seems to have a policy that he doesn"t sign guys under 5"10' but they"re not told they"re a big, strong, physical side; they"re a football side, and I thought we were a football side today. I thought we were the better side on the day, but we"ve lost a goal that was disappointing. But, on chances, perhaps we should have won the game.

'Lee Robinson has had two great saves - that"s what you get for having a guy, who used to play for you in goal, at the other end.

'But it"s always going to be a hard place to come. Queens are a good side. They"ve got good, experienced players. That"s five times we"ve played Queens this season and they"ve not beaten us.'

It was put to Irons that the standard of play was good given the poor weather conditions of wind and blustery rain. He commented: 'It was a good advert today. There have been one or two poor games, but I think the First Division is a great level of football for people to watch. I think the people who watched today will have seen two sides who have gone for it, tried to play, and with some good chances, particularly at our end.'

Had Morton won, they would have moved up to third spot. As it is they are fourth, but just three points above third bottom Queens.

Said Irons: 'That tells you what this league is all about. It"s just a crazy league.

'We are just working away quietly. We"ve had our critics, we"ve had our ups and downs, but I think now we have a group of boys who are very determined and want to do well for the club.'

There is now a big spell of games coming up for everyone in the league, and Irons said: 'I think a lot of managers are saying that next week is a big one. You"re either going to be safe, or struggling, or in touch with the leaders.

'It"s got the makings of an exciting week.'

Asked about the exclusion of Alex Walker from the side, Irons explained: 'That was a personal issue. He"s been affected by something that has happened away from football. Credit to the lad, he came and said he felt he couldn"t focus on the game.

'He could easily have gone out and played but he didn"t want to let anyone down. He said he couldn"t deal with what happened. I"m not going to say what it is, but it"s something personal. Junior [Chris Smith] came in and did okay.'

Ton scorer James Grady was effervescent as ever and said of the goal: ' I think the short corner worked for us. Two of them went out and the guy at the back post didn"t get across quick enough.

'I think the boys deserved more from the game. We created good chances, it was a mistake that cost us the goal, but Palmerston is a difficult place to come at any time. You take the point, you"ve moved up a place.

'People have been talking about us being in the relegation dog-fight, which we were in, but the league is that strange that if you win a couple of games you can be right up at the top.

'With St Johnstone on a 21-game unbeaten run you would expect them to be winning the league out the park, but they"re not.

'There is still a chance there for four or five teams if they can put a run together, including Morton.

'We"ve got two massive games again this week. If we can take the six points from that we"ll see where that takes us.'

On Morton"s sometimes indifferent form during the campaign, Grady commented: 'We just lacked a wee bit of belief at times. I think the players didn"t realise they were as good as they can be at times. They"re starting to show it a wee bit now.'

Queens boss Gordon Chisholm praised the effort of his team, saying: 'I couldn"t ask any more. We brought a lot of big boys back to deal with the presence of Morton. To allow James Grady, the smallest man on the park, to get in with a header makes it so difficult.

'But credit to the boys, they kept going at it. I thought we had a few chances in the first half that just needed tapped in - the second half I thought we worked hard.

'To be honest I couldn"t see us getting a goal. But we kept at it and we got the goal. I"m not too disappointed.

'We worked hard and I thought we deserved at least a draw out of it.'