MORTON will take on two newly-crowned champions in the group stage of the new Premier Sports Cup in the shape of St Johnstone and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Ian Murray’s side were handed a trip to McDiarmid Park in Wednesday’s draw, while they will also travel to Bayview to face East Fife in their other Group F away fixture.
That half of the draw will bring back a few painful memories for Ton’s supporters, who won’t recall with much fondness their trips to Perth and Methil in the group phase of the same tournament just two years ago.
Then under the management of Dougie Imrie, Ton’s campaign in the competition was over almost before it began when they tumbled to a surprise 3-0 defeat against East Fife in their opening game.
They also lost 2-0 to the Saints at McDiarmid Park, rendering their wins at home to Alloa and Brechin City essentially moot.
The prospect of another trip to Perth may not appeal too much to the Ton travelling support, either, with their last visit to St Johnstone having ended in a 5-0 thrashing just before Christmas as Simo Valakari’s men steamrollered their way to the title and promotion back to the Premiership.
This time around, the Ton’s home fixtures will come against Inverness and Lowland League champions Linlithgow Rose.
It’ll be the first ever competitive meeting between Ton and Linlithgow, with the West Lothian side having missed out on a place in the end-of-season play-offs for promotion to the SPFL.
The day after winning the Lowland League, the Prestonfield side announced they were not eligible for the play-offs, saying that their ‘application for a period of grace to fulfil the required criteria for our SFA bronze licence was declined by the SPFL board’.
The game against Inverness, meanwhile, will be the first of at least five matches between the teams in the 2026-27 campaign after the Highlanders secured the League One title, and promotion to the Championship, two years on from their relegation to the third tier.
The last Cappielow clash between the sides ended in a 2-0 win for the ‘Caley Jags’ in March 2024, with first half goals from Billy McKay and Sean McAllister earning full points for Duncan Ferguson’s men.
The two sides also met on the final day of that campaign, when Inverness also won, 3-1 at home, but the result wasn’t enough to lift the hosts away from the play-off trapdoor, and they were relegated after being beaten by Hamilton Accies in the final.
Fixture dates and kick-off times are expected to be confirmed over the coming days, with the competition getting under way on Saturday, July 11.
Morton reached the knockout stages of the competition last season after wins over Peterhead, Stenhousemuir and Clyde in the group stages, before suffering a 3-0 defeat to Aberdeen at Cappielow in the tournament’s last 16.
