Disappointing defeat for Morton
Jonathan Mitchell • Published 28 Jan 2012 21:10
0 Comments
Share this
Queen of the South 2
Morton 1
(Scorers: Parkin 58, 65 mins; Campbell 75 mins)
By Jonathan Mitchell
Morton succumbed to a disappointing 2-1 defeat to bottom of the table Queen of the South at Palmerston today.
Doonhamers debutant Sam Parkin was the hosts' hero, marking his first start since signing from St Johnstone on Tuesday with a deadly double.
Archie Campbell netted his third goal in four games to half the deficit, but try as they might, Ton failed to find the equaliser needed to snatch a share of the spoils.
The Cappielow men started brightly, however, and looked to have taken the lead when Peter Weatherson, who was handed a start upfront, tapped home a David O'Brien centre, but the 'goal' was ruled out for offside.
Queens finally managed their first shot of note in the 20th minute when Gavin Reilly fired wide of Colin Stewart's left-hand post.
Nevertheless, the miss sparked Gus MacPherson's side into life, and they embarked on a period of sustained pressure in which Morton survived a real scare when Parkin came within inches of turning Scott McLaughlin's sclaffed shot into the net.
The visitors soon reassumed control, though, and went close with a series of shots on goal in a scintillating six-minute spell, with a Weatherson snapshot which forced a fine stop from Lee Robinson the pick of the attempts.
But it would be Parkin who proved to be the match winner as he bagged a brace inside seven second-half minutes.
Both goals were startling similar. For his first, he slammed home from close range after a Reilly cross dropped to him in the box, and then volleyed a Nicky Clark corner into the net from an almost identical position for the second.
Campbell put the cat amongst the pigeons when he raced onto a clever Darren McGeouch pass and rifled what is fast becoming a trademark finish across Robinson to make it 2-1 with 15 minutes left.
But the visitors failed to create any real chances of note in the final quarter of an hour and left the Dumfries venue empty handed for the second time this season.
Morton boss Allan Moore said: "That's a sore one. I felt both teams were evenly matched and we played some good stuff in the first half, but we lost a couple of bad goals and that gave us a mountain to climb."
Morton (4-4-2): Stewart; Evans, Graham, Smyth, Little (MacDonald, 73); McGeouch (Di Giacomo, 88), Bachirou, Tidser, O'Brien; Weatherson, Campbell.
Subs not used: Young, Hawke, McGinley (gk)
Queen of the South (4-4-2): Robinson; Reid, McGuffie, Higgins, Holt; Clark, McLaughlin, Johnston (Simmons, 79), Carmichael; Reilly (Smillie, 83), Parkin.
Subs not used: Brighton, Campbell, Atkinson(gk).
Referee: Craig Charleston
Attendance: 1,444
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 28 Jan 12
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.
