Ton liv-ing dangerously
Jonathan Mitchell • Published 15 Aug 2011 12:00
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MORTON finally rolled up at Cappielow for their first competitive outing of the season on home turf on Saturday and made a winning start with a
2-1 win over Livingston.
How they managed to do so is anyone's guess after last season's Second Division champions staged a 60-minute siege which the hosts somehow survived to pick up all three points.
The match, however, had an entirely different complexion in the early stages.
Back then, Morton appeared streets ahead of an inexplicably-intimidated Livingston side.
So often in these cases last season, the Cappielow men were guilty of failing to take advantage of their dominance - a feature of their game which Allan Moore looked to address by bringing in quality strikers this summer.
Yet it was Michael Tidser, a man who has himself admitted that he needs to start hitting the net far more often, who broke the deadlock in nine minutes.
Livingston took two attempts to clear a Fouad Bachirou corner, but only succeeded in pushing the ball out as far as Tidser 25 yards from goal.
The midfielder took a touch before drilling beyond Andrew McNeil's despairing dive to open the scoring.
Tidser's tail was now up, and he stung McNeil's palms with a stunning long-range drive, which the former Hibs keeper did well to push over.
Morton were still masters of their own destiny when, in the 27th minute, David O'Brien burst into the Livi box and fired straight at McNeil.
But it was later in that very same minute the game turned, when trialist right-back Kevin McCann was booked for a foul on Bobby Barr.
Afterwards, McCann was ultra-cautious in his approach to dealing with flying winger Barr, a Third Division player of the year in his time at Albion Rovers.
Before then, Ton had a free-kick to contend with, which Bobby's namesake, Craig Barr, somehow managed to skew wide after meeting Liam Fox's cross with a free header from six yards.
Suddenly the visitors were vibrant, and Fox went close himself with a powerful volley which flew just wide.
This close shave energised Ton for a brief five-minute spell in which Tidser twice tested McNeil before Paul Di Giacomo latched on to a MacDonald pass and unleashed a low drive.
The effort appeared to be arrowing into the bottom left-hand corner until McNeil propelled himself low to his left to flick the ball wide.
Back at the other end, Livingston finally extended Stewart for the first time five minutes before the break when Barr raced in behind the badly-exposed McCann and fired off a shot which the Ton keeper did well to parry.
Stewart was forced into action again just after the restart to block a Kenny Deuchar header from close in.
Livingston's pressure eventually paid off in 54 minutes when ref Brian Winter pointed to the spot after adjudging Grant Evans to have fouled Jason Talbot.
The decision was a controversial one with there being both a hint of Talbot making the most of the contact and maybe even a case for any foul having been committed outside the box.
Ex-Morton striker Iain Russell was unconcerned and sent Stewart the wrong way with a well-taken spot kick.
At this stage, it looked like there would only be one winner.
But it was Ton who regained the lead when they were handed a penalty of their own in the 64th minute following David Sinclair's trip on Tidser.
Even though he had missed a penalty at Forfar in midweek, MacDonald appeared entirely unfazed by the responsibility and dispatched cooly from 12 yards to fire his side back into the lead.
From then on in, Livingston threw everything at Ton, and despite going down to 10 men when Stuart McCaffrey was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 87th minute when he halted Russell's piercing dribble, a combination of woeful finishing and uncompromising defending, particularly from Evans, ensured they would withstand the visitors' late onslaught to pick up the points.
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 15 Aug 11
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