REPORT: Livingston 0 Morton 1

Others might fancy going back to Ibrox and the scene of the recent 2-2 draw through which the current squad became the first side to take points off Rangers there in the Championship this term.

A trip to Tynecastle to play Hearts — the last visit there coming way back on March 26 1988 — will come high on many wishlists, as would a tantalising home tie against west coast rivals Kilmarnock.

Those who relish the romance of the cup and the opportunity to visit unfamiliar venues would love to see Ton follow Linlithgow Rose/Forfar or East Kilbride/Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale out the hat

Yet none of that day dreaming or anticipation and excitement for this evening’s fifth round draw would have been possible without Saturday’s gritty 1-0 win over Livingston.

The match was played in freezing cold conditions on a slippery playing surface during a grey winter’s day in West Lothian.

That the tie even went ahead was down to the herculean efforts of the dozen or so home fans who volunteered their services to clear a layer of snow off the pitch on the morning of the game.

According to a Livi club official who spoke to the Tele after the game, there was absolutely no hope of passing the 10.30am pitch inspection without their exertions.

When the Tony Macaroni Arena tannoy announcer took time to thank them before kick-off, the travelling Ton supporters showed their appreciation with a warm round of applause. And it was the 370 away fans — almost half of the 873 crowd — who left beaming as their team got back to winning ways after back-to-back league defeats.

Ton bossed the game for large swathes of the first half, but Livingston were quickest out of the traps and had registered the game’s first attempt on goal in the fifth minute. On an afternoon throughout which ropey referee Craig Charleston would blow his whistle for anything resembling physical contact, he missed a foul on Ross Forbes on the right flank.

From there striker Liam Buchanan burst forward, weaving around a challenge before flashing a fierce strike a fraction over at Derek Gaston’s top-left corner.

Jim Duffy’s men were soon on the ascendancy, though, forcing a handful of corners in quick succession.

Their first real opportunity fell to Declan McManus on 13 minutes. Midfielders Joe McKee and Forbes worked a smart exchange before the former fed the Fleetwood Town loanee.

McManus had pulled away into space on the left of the box, 18 yards out, and swept a first-time effort at goal.

He failed to get any real purchase on the strike, however, and Livingston goalkeeper Darren Jamieson was able to kneel down and collect the tame attempt.

The Ton No.21 was soon back in the groove and working the frontline, finding space on the opposite side of the attack this time.

Swansea City striker Alex Samuel, fresh from signing a loan extension the previous day, was restored to the starting line-up and deployed on the left-hand side of midfield in an experimental move. He and Forbes operated as inverted widemen, with the expectation being that they would cut infield to cause the opposition problems.

And that’s exactly what Samuel did on 14 minutes as he rode a few tackles before slipping a perfectly-weighted pass out to McManus in the aforementioned room to the right.

The Scotland Under-21 cap put the laces through the ball this time, drilling a fierce angled drive towards the far post.

But Morgyn Neill, who, almost a year ago to the day, scored against the Ton at Somerset Park while on loan at Ayr United, had drifted back towards his own goal and was on hand to stab over the bar.

McManus continued to give the home defence headaches, and they resorted to force to stop him when he was unceremoniously dumped to the turf on 19 minutes.

Forbes and McKee stood over the dead ball in a central position 25 yards out, but Forbes took charge, bending a low free-kick around the wall and narrowly wide of the left-hand upright.

Six minutes later, Samuel saw a shot deflected just past the same post, rippling the outside of the net as it span behind for a corner.
The move had been sprung via a counter-attack in which Gaston shelled a long punt downfield to McManus in acres of space.

He in turn touched back to Forbes, and the midfielder then found Samuel with a prodded pass on the stretch just as he looked set to be dispossessed. While the attack had its origins in route-one football, the end product again came about through Samuel driving in off his starting position on the left flank to great effect.

With McManus and top scorer Denny Johnstone seemingly the first-choice pairing up top, it could well be that we often see the Welshman feature in this role in the second half of the season.

Forbes’ tendency to come infield onto his favoured left foot was providing Conor Pepper ample opportunity to maraud forward into the vacated space, and he needed no second invitation.

On 26 minutes, the eager Irishman bombed forward down the outside and floated over a teasing angled cross that Johnstone just failed to connect with at the front post.

Former Ton player and development coach David Hopkin was in the dugout for his first match in charge of Livi on a permanent basis. Hopkin’s team turned the tables on Ton for a spell around the midway point in the half, and it was his two recent recruits who were central to the openings fashioned in that period.

Sam Stanton signed on loan from Hibs the day before the game, and he forced Gaston into his first save of the afternoon with a snapshot from the edge of the box on the half hour.

Prior to that capture, Hopkin had brought in experienced midfielder Mark Fotheringham, and the assertive 32-year-old quickly assumed responsibility for his new club’s set-pieces. In the 31st minute, the former Norwich City skipper fired an inswinging corner beyond the back post, from where right-back Neill stooped to divert the ball back into the danger area.

Striker Jordyn Sheerin, a surprise starter who netted a consolation in Ton’s 4-2 win at the same venue back in September, rose highest but nodded onto the roof of the net from six yards.

After that brief interlude, Ton were back on the front foot with flying full-back Pepper leading the charge down the right flank.

Following one wildly over-hit delivery, the 21-year-old was on point again when he swung in a fantastic low cross that was screaming out for someone to apply the finishing touch. Forbes timed his run to perfection but did not quite manage to readjust his body shape in time and flicked agonisingly wide from inside the six-yard box.

Invigorated by the freedom Livingston were affording him, Pepper continued his assault as the half wound down, winning a couple of corners when his deliveries were deflected behind.

They came to nothing, though, and it was actually the hosts who had the last shot on target of the half, Sheerin sending a tame curler into Gaston’s grateful arms from the left of the box.

Neither side mustered much in the way of an attacking threat in a dull first 20 minutes of the second half. But Morton were stung into life by the sense of injustice that followed whistler Charleston’s decision to penalise McManus for a non-existent foul as he pressed an opponent to win back possession.

The anger injected a rush of adrenaline that saw the visitors burst into life and break down the right, winning the corner from which they would score the game’s only goal on 65 minutes.

Forbes took the kick, wrapping his left foot around the ball to curl towards Thomas O’Ware attacking the near post.

The utility man, who partnered McKee in the centre of midfield, stole a match on his marker and bulleted a powerful downwards header into the back of the net to score his third of the season.

Livi spent the remaining 25 minutes pushing for a leveller to rescue their cup place, and they could have secured a replay a week on Tuesday had Buchanan brought his shooting boots.
The former Partick Thistle frontman saw two gilt-edged chances fall his way in the space of 60 seconds, between 72 and 73 minutes. 
First, he sidefooted at Gaston from three yards after a Fotheringham free-kick was nodded down to him by Declan Gallagher.
Goalkeeper Gaston deserved credit for anticipating the finish and plunging low to his left to smother the shot.
But Buchanan had no excuse for failing to hit the target when he screwed a left-footed finish the wrong side of the post shortly thereafter. Besides those openings, Morton were resolute and limited the hosts’ chances, with Luca Gasparotto and Lee Kilday solid at the heart of the defence.
Right-back Pepper was not as potent an attacking force after the break, but made a brave, brilliant — and vital — block inside the box on 78 minutes to help Ton to their 10th clean sheet of the campaign.
In actual fact, it was the Greenock men who then began to look the more likely side to score as they hit Livi on the break.
Russell, after moving forward to left-midfield following the introduction of Ricki Lamie at left-back in a switch designed to shore things up further, tested Jamieson with a swerving right-footed shot.
But they failed to make two excellent overloads count either side of the teenager’s effort, with both a three-on-one and a two-on-one going to waste in the closing 
stages. On 84 minutes, Samuel stole possession on the edge of his own box and surged forward with McManus to his left and Johnstone to his right.
With only one defender between them and the goal, he slightly overhit a side-rule pass ahead of McManus, who was subsequently denied by Jamieson as he attempted to score from a tight angle.
Then, in the third minute of stoppage time, the otherwise impressive McKee underhit a pass to McManus as he sprinted ahead of him on the right. Those missteps would prove inconsequential, though, as Duffy’s men held out for the victory and booked their place in the next round.
Attentions now turn to tonight’s draw and willing SFA guests Brian Laudrup and darts champ Gary Anderson to pair the Ton with that preferred opponent live on Sky Sports News at 6.15pm.