New-look Ton draw blank on tour

Jonathan Mitchell • Published 14 Jul 2010 14:00 0 Comments

ALLAN Moore had to settle for a draw as his new-look Morton side opened their pre-season tour against Blyth Spartans last night.

Morton controlled the match but failed to turn their dominance into goals, and while the Ton gaffer was disappointed to draw a blank, he preferred to focus on his team's clean sheet.

He said: "I think the back four have acquitted themselves very well tonight. We've come in and had a look to see why the team has just avoided relegation, and the weakness seemed to be the number of goals we were conceding.

"We've been working on our shape, so I was delighted with our defensive performance and how we managed to limit the opposition's chances."

Morton went with three trialists in the starting line-up: Alan Lithgow partnered Marc Smyth in central defence; Tony McParland started on the right of midfield, and an unnamed Frenchman, one of two in the squad, occupied a central midfield berth.

It was wide-man McParland who manufactured the first chance of the match eight minutes in.

The former Livingston player skipped past Blyth left-back Phil Cave and whipped a cross towards Stewart Kean at the far post, but he could only guide his header harmlessly across the face of goal.

Ton dominated possession but struggled to turn their superiority into chances and went in at the break without reward.

After an uneventful opening 45 minutes, the match came to life in the second half following the introduction of Kevin Kelbie in place of Brian Graham.

The bustling striker will be wondering how he failed to get his name on the score sheet as he passed up two excellent chances in ten eventful second half minutes.

Blyth's trialist goalkeeper Sam Grieveson pulled off a stunning save when he acrobatically tipped a ferocious Kelbie drive over the crossbar in the 62nd minute.

And Grieveson came up trumps again ten minutes later when he denied Kelbie with another superb stop after the ex-Ballymena United man had shown nice footwork to create an opening.

Blyth rallied and ex-Newcastle youngster Paul Brayson raced onto Ian Graham's long ball but volleyed straight at Ton goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert, who gathered the ball at the second attempt.

Then, with 15 minutes remaining, Kelbie passed up a golden chance to secure the win when Grieveson spilled Carlo Monti's long-range strike right at the Ton frontman's feet, but he completely miscued and screwed his shot well wide of goal.

Moore believes the night was ideal preparation for the new season. He added: "Blyth are a good side, probably on a par with some of the sides in the First Division, so I'm delighted with the performance.

"Obviously, we would have liked to have got the win, but the main thing with pre-season matches is to work on your shape and fitness, have a look at the trialists and help with team bonding."

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 14 Jul 10

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