Colin is eager for Pars game to get go-ahead

Roger Graham • Published 24 Feb 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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LET'S PLAY: Morton goalkeeper Colin Stewart is hoping that Saturday's match against Dunfermline gets the go-ahead at Cappielow.

MORTON goalkeeper Colin Stewart is keeping his fingers crossed that Saturday's home match against Dunfermline beats the return of the big freeze.

He said: "I'm desperate for the game to be on, and I'm sure everyone else is too. We've got 10 home games left [out of 15] in our season and, if we can put some decent home form together, there's no reason why we can't start to climb the table and put pressure on teams above us.

"I fancy ourselves against anyone at home. We held our own against Celtic in the cup tie, and after that we picked up two good away wins.

"We have spoken about how we need to build on that and I think the dressing room is getting round to the idea that we don't need to fear anyone.

"With Dunfermline you're not really sure what you're getting," said Stewart, aware that they have beaten Morton twice this season, but also that they suffered a shock home defeat to second-bottom Ayr last Saturday.

Stewart has enjoyed a run of 20 consecutive games in the team after being out of favour with previous manager Davie Irons. His form has been such that he has been arguably the most consistent player in the side this season. Organisation is a big part of his game, and he said: "It's a massive part of the position. You need to be

organised and switched

on when the ball is up the park.

"I take a pride in that part of my game. We've been doing well in the last couple of games, but we are still losing the odd goal and I would like to cut that out. You're always looking for perfection."

The defensive improvement is something the goalie puts down to competition for places. He said: "Earlier in the season we had a lot of injuries. Everyone's fine now, except for Alex Walker and that's helped.

"We have had five or six games with a settled defence and everyone gets to know what each other is doing."

On defensive organisation, Stewart revealed that Morton tend to man-mark at set pieces rather than go for a zonal approach. "We have spoken about it," he explained. "It is semi-zonal in open play but at set pieces we tend to man-mark.

"The manager will go over it individually with us during the week to make sure we all know what we're doing."

At the moment the forecast doesn't look too encouraging, but Stewart and his mates are just hoping some improvement comes soon enough to allow that rare event on a Saturday this season - a game at Cappielow.

This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 24 Feb 10

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