Ton leave it late at Cappielow

Roger Graham 1551 - 1551 • Last updated 5 Jan 2009 13:52

Morton 2 Queen of the South 2

MORTON boss Davie Irons felt that his men were well worth their point at a bitterly cold Cappielow on Saturday after being forced to fight back from two goals down.

He said: 'We were forced into changing our system slightly with injury to Dave MacGregor. I thought Queens would go with one up top so I thought we would play with a back three.

'After a decent wee start we lost two goals and Queens were quite bright. They"ve got some clever players like Stevie Tosh who was drifting into different areas and causing us problems. We weren"t picking him up and they got the two goals from, basically, counters.

'But I think after we got the first goal back we played really well for 15 minutes towards the end of the first half. Most of the game was in their half but we still needed that second goal to get back in the game.

'It came rather late but it was justified. In the second half we had most of the possession, most of the play.

'We"ve lost late goals ourselves over the season and I think the attitude the boys showed to keep going right to the last more than deserved the equaliser.

'There comes a point when you don"t think it"s going to come, but I think the time added on was justified as well.

'We"re delighted to keep our home record, having lost only one home game this season. It was a tough game. Queens are a wounded animal, their run"s not been great, but they"ve got too many good players for that to continue.'

Asked to comment on Queens manager Gordon Chisholm"s complaint on the tackle by Dominic Shimmin that saw visiting striker Gary Arbuckle stretchered off late in the game, Irons replied: 'Dominic Shimmin has won the ball clearly. He is a very aggressive type of player, but he certainly doesn"t go in to hurt people.'

'I thought it was a really strong challenge. You don"t want to see anyone getting hurt but there was no intention from any of the challenges going in today of that.

'Over the years the physical side of the game has been eroded. Defending is an art and I think Dominic Shimmin is a very good defender. All he has done is be very aggressive and strong in his approach.'

Asked about his pleas for Stewart Greacen to leave the late shy which led to the equaliser to Erik Paartalu, Irons laughed as he replied: 'Good decision by the boys to ignore me. At that stage we were just trying to get the ball in the box.'

In fact, there were apparently only three seconds left for play.

Meanwhile Ton defender David MacGregor revealed that his injury is not serious, saying: 'I wanted to play in fact.'

And striker James Grady"s injury will not keep him out of their next match. 'He twisted his knee, but he"ll be okay,' said Irons.

Now Morton have a break before resuming action at Dens Park on 17 January.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 05 Jan 09

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