Queen's Park v Morton preview as visitors try to stop rot

The Greenock men slipped to the bottom of the Championship last Saturday as they were defeated by 1-0 Airdrie at Cappielow.

The result continued the dismal run of form that has left them winless since the opening day of the season and this was their third home defeat of the season already, a statistic which does not bode well.

As the end of the first quarter of the campaign approaches, summer optimism and thoughts of a promotion play-off push have all but evaporated.

Instead as it stands the Greenock men face a fight to save their season and get away from the wrong end of the table before a fully-blown relegation battle begins.

Injuries have bedevilled them from day one but it must be said that they have ultimately been the authors of their own misfortune by gifting goals away every week and failing to take opportunities at the other end.

It was the same old story last Saturday against the Diamonds, who were allowed to break on them so easily for the first half strike that eventually proved decisive.

The fact that it was scored by ex-Ton youngster Lewis McGregor, a talent discarded by Dougie Imrie after being deemed surplus to requirements a year ago, just typified the way things are going for them just now.

It really has been a case of one slap in the face after another and Morton are now going to have to fight their way out of the corner they've backed themselves into.

The one thing in their favour is that we are only in early October and that means they still have plenty of time left to turn the corner.

It is not a case of panic stations at this time, but make no mistake they will have to improve markedly to hoist themselves out of trouble.

The post-match narrative from the Diamonds defeat was that they were unfortunate, had played better, that the winning goal came against the run of play and that the visitors didn't really carve them open often.

To an extent some of this was correct, but it also leaves Ton at risk of falling into a trap of believing that they were hard done to.

While the performance in the first half was indeed an improvement on what has gone before, that is a pretty low bar to set as some of those previous showings were abysmal.

Secondly, you can't have a credible complaint about the scoreline if you not only fail to score but only register one attempt on target during the whole game.

And it's irrelevant how many times the opposition were able to pose problems when once was enough for them to get in cheaply and score; that's all it takes, especially when the chips are down.

No one can dispute that Morton gave it their all just as they do every week, as this is a hard-working, honest squad of players.

The problem is that the overall standard of performance has simply not been up to scratch and improvement is needed across the board.

Endeavour alone isn't going to fix things, Ton are going to have to raise their game individually and collectively if they are to get results.

The second half against Airdrie was all perspiration and no inspiration as they ran out of ideas very quickly with no invention on show.

Their approach play is one-dimensional, with too many hopeful balls being knocked up the park and a dearth of creativity from what looks a one-paced midfield.

Whether it is by a change of system, approach or personnel, or a combination of all three, the manager has some thinking to do as he looks to arrest the slump.

Maybe the chance to play at the national stadium on a pristine pitch is something that will lift his players and can help inspire them tomorrow.

Ton enjoyed the whip hand over Queen's last season, collecting 10 points out of 12 against them and they can take some encouragement from that.

The Spiders are also badly out-of-sorts, having lost their last five, so they will hardly be full of confidence either.

Both teams will probably be looking at the game thinking that this is their chance to stop the rot, but for one of them things could be about to get much worse before they get any better.