All roads lead to Ayr as Scottish Cup makes return

Ton visit familiar foes Ayr United as they take their first tentative steps towards Scottish Cup glory at Hampden in May.

With promotion through the play-offs currently looking like a forlorn hope even at this early stage of the season and with Airdrie looking cast away at the bottom of the table, the trip to Ayrshire provides Dougie Imrie with an opportunity to add a bit of glamour to a season that sees Ton concentrating on trying to pull clear of the relegation play-off place.

Ton are looking to try and turn a corner (Image: Gary Bradley)

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Perhaps more importantly, with the Cappielow side's League Cup campaign ending abruptly in the group stages, a cup run with the potential of a trip to visit one of the country’s bigger venues could plug a gap in the club’s finances and see Morton turn a modest loss into a profit come the season’s end.

Draws in cup competitions haven’t been as kind to Morton this time around after last season’s run to the quarter final.

Last season didn't see Ton leave Greenock and only find themselves pulled out the hat for a trip to Ibrox in any of the season’s knockout ties. That tie was unlikely to have upset the Cappielow bean-counters too much.

However, there will be an appetite in the squad to experience some more memorable occasions like the night Morton dispatched Premiership Motherwell in February, and to do so they’ll have to take care of a more-fancied Ayr United.

The Honest Men are of course complete with the hero of that February hour, in George Oakley, who only three weeks ago notched Ayr’s Cappielow equaliser against his former employers.

Ton have had a mixed bag of results against Scott Brown's side this season (Image: Gary Bradley)

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Though Storm Bert put paid to Partick’s visit to Cappielow last Saturday, Ton's cup opponents were in action against Dunfermline.

They registered a 1-0 win that turned a frustrating weekend into a positive one for Morton, with the Pars’ position below Ton weakened somewhat by the Somerset Park reverse.

Jay Henderson’s fine strike, a bit more convincing than the double-hit penalty that controversially sunk Morton in September, proved the difference between the teams.

When the teams were pulled out the hat together, I doubt there were many Morton fans whose immediate reaction wasn’t to bemoan our misfortune.

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While the kind run of home ties last season facilitated a prolonged run in the competition, at this stage of the tournament a trip into the unknown would have been the preferred option from a fan’s perspective - Banks O’Dee, Linlithgow Rose or Dundee North End away would have been great. But such is Morton’s luck this season, we’ve had to make do with a familiar away trip that we’ll be underdogs to progress from.

However, after flying out of the traps at the start of the league campaign, Ayr have stalled a bit and the long-term absence of the talismanic Anton Dowds has certainly been a major contributing factor to this. 

Although it looks like the Honest Men might have in recent weeks chalked up consecutive home wins against fellow play-off hopefuls Queen’s Park, and of course Saturday’s win over Dunfermline.

Having been turned over convincingly at the hands of Raith Rovers before scraping a draw at Cappielow earlier in the month, Scott Brown’s side’s SPFL Trust Trophy humiliation at the hands of non-league East Kilbride would suggest that not all is well down the coast.

For Morton, fans can point to the majority of those who have been forced onto the side lines gradually fighting back to full fitness, with the returns of Ali Crawford and Cammy Ballantyne hopefully on the horizon, although poor Dylan Corr still looks a long way from full fitness.

Cammy Ballntyne will be back this weekend (Image: George Munro)

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One can only hope that the morale-boosting late victory over fellow strugglers Raith will prove that catalyst for Morton to go on another extended run to propel themselves up the table and into the next round of the cup and beyond.

Filip Stuparevic bagged a stunning double and Jordan Davies enjoyed a fine cameo after a difficult start to his Morton career. So Imrie will be well aware that this is a good opportunity to kick-start the season.

With Morton meeting the bottom two before Santa comes to town, hitting form at this stage could turn an underwhelming season so far into a very good one. 

And there is no better place to start that than securing a place in the hat for the fourth round draw, please.