THE stars aligned for Greenock Morton Football Club on Saturday as the present team moved to the top of the League One table and set the perfect mood for an evening celebrating legends of the past.

Morton’s current crop beat Airdrie 1-0 at the Excelsior Stadium to take their place proudly atop the third tier summit for the first time this season.

It marked the culmination of an impressive run of results that has seen them go five games undefeated as well as four matches without conceding a single goal.

Significantly, two of those five fixtures were victories over title rivals Dunfermline Athletic and Forfar Athletic, both of whom failed to win at the weekend as Ton leapfrogged them to the top.

It all made for an excellent atmosphere in the Greenock Town Hall as the club and supporters came together to celebrate eight Cappielow icons in the inaugural Hall of Fame dinner.

Many of the familiar faces in high spirits had come straight from watching Jim Duffy’s side defeat familiar foes in Airdrie.

It was the second successive meeting with the Diamonds, their third in the space of 14 days, and their fourth so far this season.

Going by the stats – three wins, one draw, zero defeats, five goals for, one against, and three consecutive clean sheets – the terrace anthem ‘Can We Play You Every Week’ might be appropriate.

After that most recent meeting on Tuesday, the Ton boss had some difficult choices to make with regards to his team selection.

Duffy made the decision to restore top scorer Declan McManus, who was free to play again after his Aberdeen enforced cup embargo, to the starting line-up.

Teenager Jon Scullion had impressed in matches against Forfar and Airdrie but made way as the Ton boss decided to take a fresh approach and mix things up, as hinted at in Friday’s Tele.

The only other change saw Robbie Crawford take David McNeil’s place on the left of midfield after the teenager was ruled out with a groin injury.

Gary Bollan’s side offered little attacking threat in midweek and managed more in the opening 30 seconds of this meeting.

Midfielder Nathan Blockley saw his shot spin up and in behind the visiting defence and drop perfectly for Keigan Parker.

The former Scotland Under-21 cap caught the Ton defence by surprise, beating the offside flag, but stabbed a harmless effort straight at Derek Gaston.

If he was a permanent Ton player, McManus is a member of the current crop of players with the potential to be worthy of a future place in the hallowed ranks of the Hall of Fame.

And he didn’t take long to send Airdrie a message of intent, shaving the crossbar with a whipped shot from just outside the box on three minutes.

But the game only really sparked into life after 18 minutes, when Parker saw a goal chopped off after Bryan Prunty was flagged for being offside when he originally flicked on into his path.

Morton responded through skipper Andy Barrowman, who crashed a shot against the face of the crossbar after he was teed up by McManus. But it would also have been disallowed had it hit the net after McManus was adjudged to have fouled Marc Fitzpatrick in the build-up.

Cappielow captain Barrowman would have a goal chalked off shortly thereafter, but he will be kicking himself for failing to put the ball in the net at the first time of asking.

It was on 26 minutes that a McManus effort broke kindly for him 12 yards out with just the goalkeeper to beat.

Barrowman confidently lashed past McNeil but watched aghast as the ball rebounded off the right-hand post and span across the face of goal.

Crawford pounced on the rebound and pulled back for the hitman to slam home at the second attempt.

It would not stand, however, as Rangers loanee Crawford was judged to have been in an offside position at the moment Barrowman took his initial shot.

Morton were well on top, with livewire McManus especially effulgent and intent on making up for lost time after missing both cup ties against the Diamonds.

He fizzed over a dangerous cross from the right, which Ricki Lamie half-volleyed over stealing in unnoticed at the far post. The full-back might have expected to hit the target but was perhaps surprised the ball had reached him at all after Barrowman came within inches of connecting with the centre .

On 31 minutes, 20-year-old McManus’s hyperactive movement saw him make a nuisance of himself down the opposite side.

After taking a sublime touch to stun Thomas O’Ware’s accurate diagonal pass from centre to out on the left, he breezed inside a challenge and pulled the trigger.

Fortunately for the hosts, right-back Chris O’Neil had stuck to his task, tracking McManus’s drive inside and getting enough on his block to send the ball spinning wide of the right-hand post. McManus went closer again five minutes later, snapping onto a Jamie McCluskey lay-off and drilling a daisy-cutter just the wrong side of the opposite upright with McNeil well beaten.

The Scotland Under-21 star’s relentless energy and direct style created a feeling that it was only a matter of time before he put the Diamonds to the sword.

And he provided the vital moment of transition that transformed a tidy move into a dangerous, goal scoring opportunity. The play began with Stefan Milojevic clipping a measured pass up to Barrowman, who dropped off and expertly chested down to Conor Pepper.

The Irishman quickly shifted the ball on to McManus, who had pulled away on the inside-left channel in the style that has fast become his trademark.

McManus then knocked the ball past Fitzpatrick, shifting into turbo to leave the centre-half eating his dust as he sent a brilliant low cross through the middle of the six-yard box.

It was just calling out for someone to get on the end of it, similar to the assist he provided for Barrowman’s goal against Forfar the previous week. Jamie McCluskey had followed in at the far post and needed no second invitation to turn home one of the simplest goals he will ever score to send his side in with a deserved lead at the break.

While McCluskey was providing some of the attacking finesse in midfield, O’Ware and Pepper were providing the physical brawn.

The half ended with the pair involved in a scrum after Pepper got stuck into a 50-50 with Parker after O’Ware had made a solid standing tackle. Airdrie central midfielders Blockley and Dundee United loanee Scott Fraser would provide a much sterner challenge in the second period. Flame-haired midfielder Blockley almost single-handedly took the game to the visitors in the first 15 minutes after the restart.

He first posed a threat on 53 minutes when he used the outside of his right foot to let fly with a speculative strike that swerved away from Gaston’s right-hand post.

The 22-year-old went closer still two minutes later with another powerful shot that whistled just over the top.

Blockley’s relentless personal drive for an equaliser saw him almost break his neck to get on the end of a Jamie Bain cross less than a minute afterwards.

He hit the target this time but his header lacked direction and was comfortably clutched by a grateful Gaston.

The Ton managed their first, and only, real attempt on McNeil’s goal in the second half on 69 minutes. Pepper was the architect, slipping the ever-dangerous McManus in down the right channel for a ferocious drive that flashed past the post.

It was at this juncture that referee Gavin Duncan took centre stage by booking six players in the space of a frustratingly stop-start 16 minutes.

For Ton, O’Ware, McCluskey, Crawford, and Pepper were all cautioned, with the reason for the latter’s yellow card difficult to ascertain from the far side.

In between times, the Diamonds managed to give the visitors just one real scare when Sean Crighton misjudged a ball over the top.

There was a split second when it looked as though he had let Parker in on goal, but the centre-half made a fantastic recovery and wrapped his right foot around the striker to hook clear.

As the clock wound down towards full-time and another hard-fought three points, Airdrie No5 Marc Fitzpatrick was announced as the sponsors’ man of the match via the tannoy.

Judging by the sarcastic reaction to the choice, it’s fair to say the former Ton defender will never be fondly remembered by the travelling support.

But if the current group can continue to grind out victories on their way to a League One title, they will write their names in the annals of Morton history for all the right reasons.

Just like the club legends the Ton faithful would rush home to honour later that same evening in Greenock Town Hall.