Published: Monday, 16th March, 2009 12:30pm

Stevie is spot-on

Morton 2 Clyde 0

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PENALTY ACE: Stevie Masterton shoots across stand-in Clyde goalkeeper Cherrie from the penalty spot to put Morton two goals up at Cappielow with just over 20 minutes to go.
Pic by: James McFadden/David Bell

A TOP finish by Allan Jenkins set Morton on the road to this victory over Clyde which virtually guaranteed their First Division status.

Manager Davie Irons said afterwards: 'I thought we started the game poorly. Up until we scored I think Clyde maybe had slightly the upper hand, but Allan Jenkins scored a great goal amd I think we settled down after that.

'The second half was quite comfortable in terms of there being not a lot of pressure on our goal, but we still needed that second goal to see the game through and, obviously, the penalty kick has given us that opportunity.

'We spoke before the game about the importance of winning this match, for all sorts of reasons.

'I thought the boys did a professional job and saw the game out well and got us the three points.'

Earlier, Stewart Greacen had had a goal chalked off for offside, a suprising decision, with even the Clyde players not showing any signs of protest when the Ton skipper"s header flew in.

Irons said: 'I couldn"t believe it. He [Greacen] has come from deep, he"s gone through people. I thought it was a great header.

'I was surprised when I saw the linesman"s flag going up, but fortunately for us it didn"t matter. But in other games it could have had a bearing on the outcome.'

On Masterton, who took the decisive penalty superbly after goalkeeper Hutton was sent off for a second yellow card offence, Irons commented: 'I thought his set pieces were magnificent today. He"s a real threat at that. Stevie"s got that in his locker. It"s with the rest of his game that he needs to understand he has more to offer us. He is a good football player, and his deliveries were great.

'I thought Jenkins and McManus, particularly, were good for us. Greacen as well.'

'It was a big game to win for us today.'

The Morton manager still believes his side have a chance of promotion, saying: 'I"ve been 11 points clear with Gretna, only to win the league with the last kick of the ball.

'There"s a lot of football to be played.'

Asked if the relegation issue had now been put to bed as far as Morton were concerned, Irons replied: 'I hope so. I think today, psychologically, was a big win for us. It would need Clyde and Airdrie to win three games and us to take nothing out of them for them to go above us.'

With Clyde having a history of scoring late goals against Morton, Irons admitted he only began to relax a little after the second goal went in. 'It"s always in the back of your mind,' he said. 'Getting the second goal was crucial for us. I think the players relaxed then. We hit the bar after that.'

A spectacular Greacen overhead kick flew narrowly over and Irons said, with a laugh: 'I don"t know where he got that from.'

A clearly disappointed Clyde boss John Brown disappeared without talking to the Press and Irons said: 'I feel for John. It"s a hard league. They [Clyde] are by no means rooted to the bottom of the table. He"s done a great job at Clyde with the resources they have.'

Stevie Masterton, who slammed home the penalty, low into the left corner of the goal, admitted that he almost changed his mind on where to put the kick.

Said Masterton: 'I thought about changing it, because I always used to go that way in training when I was at Clyde.'

Asked about his skill from free kicks, Masterton replied: 'I"m feeling good on my free kicks just now. I"m striking them well.'

Of the win itself, the midfielder said: 'We"ve got to be happy. On Tuesday night against Airdrie, they came for the draw and we couldn"t break them down. I think today it helped getting an early goal.

'Clyde had to come out a bit and I thought we saw the game out really nicely in the end.'

On the loss of late goals during the season, Masterton commented: 'We would be up there challenging if we hadn"t lost so many late goals. We"ve been working on it in training and are a lot more confident now going into the last 10 minutes.'