Losses irrelevant

Roger Graham • Published 26 Feb 2010 14:00 0 Comments

'The two defeats to them have no bearing on tomorrow'

MORTON boss James Grady believes that two defeats by Dunfermline already this season will have no bearing on tomorrow's third clash with the Pars at Cappielow.

Whether a game takes place at all depends very much on the weather and Grady said: "It's touch and go. I would say no more than 50-50. We're hoping the rain can do us a favour."

If the match gets the okay, then Morton will line up minus the suspended Kevin Finlayson in his usual wide right role, while the other Kevin, McKinlay, who came off the bench a fortnight ago, is also out due to a two-match ban.

Finlayson's absence is perhaps the more important, as Grady admits that one of Dunfermline's strengths is their pace in the wide areas.

Grady said: "The two defeats to them have no bearing on tomorrow. We played them through there when we had a whole load of injuries and there wasn't much between the teams. I think what won it for Jim McIntyre [the Pars boss] that day was their ability to bring players off the bench who could infuence the game."

Grady can call on players such as Neil MacFarlane, Erik Paartalu and Carlo Monti to fill the gaps left by Finlayson and McKinlay and he said: "We're on a decent wee run and the boys have shown great commitment. We have plenty of options and will play who we think will help us get the win.

"They are a hard-working side with decent pace in players like Davie Graham, while Steven Bell can be a threat from midfield.

"But, while we always touch on the opposition, we concentrate more upon what we can do."

A fine performance - as was Morton's win at Dumfries in their last outing - does not automatically mean that as few changes as possible will be made, as Grady explained: "We don't change for the sake of change and I'm a great believer in building confidence if a team is going well. But there will be times when you change it because someone else can bring a threat to another team in a certain area.

"We're desperate for it [the game] to go ahead. Everyone wants games on a Saturday, the players, management, chairman, fans - everyone."

As goalkeeper Colin Stewart said during the week, there is a growing feeling of self-belief in the Cappielow dressing room these days, and Grady said: "We like being positive. If someone does something wrong we don't lambast them. We don't want people worrying about what's happened. What's happened has happened. We want them to look ahead.

"We treat the players like men. They know where they stand with us. We will respect them and we expect that respect back."

There is a clean bill of health at Cappielow, the only walking wounded being defender Alex Walker, who is on loan to Brechin City.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 26 Feb 10

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