Saturday, July 30, 2005

Morton Round Up

Pre-Season

Morton completed their pre-season schedule at Falkirk on Tuesday night with a 0-0 draw in what was somewhat an experimental match for both sides. Morton began the game with the likes of Keenan, Mcgregor, Adam & Jason Walker in the starting line-up. Despite giving away much of he possession to an SPL bound Falkirk side Morton created by far the better of the chances and would have earned a deserved victory were it not for a fine display by the Bairns no.1. I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with Falkirk who failed to make their possession amount to much and failed to break down the Morton defence until very late in the game after a spate of substitutions.


Tuesday also seen me add to my list of venue I’ve watched Morton at – Im now down to 3 current stadiums in Scotland that I’ve not visited – Pittodrie, Tynecastle & Balmoor.


Last Saturday we were at Love St for the final of the Renfrewshire cup as the Ton ran out 2-0 winners to lift the trophy for the 3rd season in a row. Goals at the end of each half from Jim McAlister and Derek Lilley put a cap on a great team performance by the Ton – My MOM was probably Jim Mcalister who put in a great shift in the left wing-back position. New boys Finlayson & Lilley also had fine matches showing they will be great additions to the team.
In general the pre-season friendlies have been a success not just from results perspective but also helped develop the squad rather than just the starting 11.

Alex Williams


On Tuesday the club announced that they had reached an agreement to terminate the contract of Alex Williams at the club. Alex had 1 year remaining of a 3 year contract signed at the start of the 2003/2004 season. Alex had been a goalscoring sensation when he 1st arrived at the Ton from Stirling Albion in 2002 and his goals helped the Ton win the 3rd Division title in 2003.

After a great start to life in division 2 the goals soon dried up amid rumours of off-field disciplinary problems. A change of manager failed to re-capture Alex goalscoring potential and towards the end of last season it was clear he no longer figured in the Jim Mcinally’s plan. No move over the summer raised hopes of a possible re-concilliation but failure to feature in the pre-season friendlies made it clear he didn’t have a future at Cappielow.

Personally im sorry to hear that Alex had gone – I had always hoped that he would recapture his form of his 1st year and a half at the club. There is no doubt that Alex has the goalscoring instinct but it deserted him when he needed it and his off field indiscretions quickly became to talk of the shed. I hope he manages to screw the nut and fufils the potential his early Ton displays suggested.

Strip


The Ton wore their change Tartan strip kit for the 1st time on Saturday against Gretna (Despite the lack of a clash with our hoops and Gretna’s white kit) Opinion has been split on the Tartan top but the more I’ve seen of it the more it has grown on me and it appears to have sold well (which I guess is the main point of it) Unfortunately the club have decided to pair the top with bright yellow shorts & socks which takes away from the look of the top – bit of a fashion disaster.


This is the final year of a 3 year deal with Vandanel which has seen us with 1 new home kit and 3 away kits (All Yellow, All White & Tartan).

Season Ticket
Finally went and purchased my season ticket on Friday. Usually im beating down the door to Cappielow when the season tickets go on sale but this year with the lack of a home pre-season friendly meant there was no rush to buy the ticket.


Costing £160 it represents a significant saving over the season of 18 league games plus at least 2 cup games (Gretna BC & Ayr LC) at £11 entry fee. The ticket allows entry to all league games and 1st 2 rounds of all 3 cup competitions.

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