Morton suffer shootout woe in final

Jonathan Mitchell • Published 28 Jul 2010 14:00 0 Comments

MORTON suffered a pre-season derby defeat as rivals St Mirren won 4-3 on penalties to retain the Renfrewshire Cup.

Allan Moore's men faced their second penalty shoot-out in three days after a goalless 90 minutes at Cappielow last night but failed to repeat their win over Dumbarton in the Challenge Cup on Sunday.

On the positive front, this was Morton's fifth clean sheet under the new management team - but they have also failed to score in their two most recent outings.

But Ton boss Moore insisted he is not perturbed by his team's failure to hit the net for a second successive match.

He said: "We didn't convert our half chances which, maybe with a wee bit of luck, we could have.

"I'm not concerned with the lack of goals at this moment in time. I'll be more concerned if, five weeks into the season, we still haven't scored any.

"The strikers are still finding their feet and getting to know each other, but I thought Kean and Weatherson linked up well tonight. They'll cause problems for the teams in our division."

Kevin Cuthbert was called into action straight away when he dived to his left to parry Steven Thomson's snapshot from 20 yards.

The same player forced another smart save from Cuthbert in the eighth minute as Morton struggled to find their feet.

Then, in the 14th minute, Paul McQuade released Steven Robb with an intelligent through ball, but he couldn't find a way past Cuthbert, who raced from his line to block.

Yet for all the Buddies' early pressure, it was Morton who almost opened the scoring when a powerful header from loan defender Grant Evans was cleared off the line by Michael Higdon.

Three minutes later, Higdon was in the thick of the action at the opposite end as he received a Potter pass on his chest before swivelling and thrashing a powerful strike towards goal, but Cuthbert thwarted the former Falkirk man with a wonderful fingertip save.

Peter Weatherson had both a free-kick and a powerful drive saved by Paul Gallacher as the Ton started to exert some influence on proceedings towards the end of the half.

And the Scotland cap maintained his impressive form in the second period as he pushed Tidser's low strike around the post in the 54th minute, then confidently grasped a Weatherson header four minutes later.

Craig Dargo should have given his side the lead in the 78th minute when he dispossessed Evans and made straight for goal but Cuthbert was alert to the danger and stuck out a leg to save.

With seconds remaining, Allan Jenkins was almost punished for slack play on the edge of the box, but Cuthbert smothered Darren McGregor's curling effort to send the match to penalties.

In the shootout, Holmes stepped up first but Gallacher saved. Higdon and Carlo Monti both scored before David van Zanten rolled the ball wide to restore parity.

But Kevin Kelbie also missed and Garry Brady, Michael Tidser, Paul McGowan and Marc Smyth all converted, which left John Potter with the opportunity to win the cup, and he duly accepted.

Saints gaffer Danny Lennon said: "I'm delighted to get that first win away."

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 28 Jul 10

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