Stirling Albion and Morton swopped league positions following Morton’s 3-0 victory at a cold Cappielow Park. Both teams were unchanged following last week’s victories which meant that David O’Brien could only get a place on the bench at the expense of Dougie Wilson.

The match started on a pitch which had a light dusting of sand to combat any hint of frost and Morton were quickly on the attack. Hogarth had to look lively to cut out a dangerous cross within seconds of the kick off. At the other end, a threatening move by the Binos was brought to an end when Glancy was judged to have committed a foul in the penalty box.

Williams knocked a ball back to Millar who blasted well over the bar. However, Morton took the lead shortly after this let off when Paul Walker cut in from the right to shoot past Hogarth. 1-0 to Morton, 8 minutes played.

Morton continued to press and always seemed to be first to any loose ball. When the Stirling players did have possession, they were being closed down very quickly and had very little time to mount any attack. The defenders then resorted to playing high balls out of defence.

A free kick from the Morton left ended with Hogarth having to produce a fine save from a header. Halfway through the first half, Rowe became the first player to be booked for a foul on Williams. In a rare Stirling attack, a corner from Devine was flicked on by McDonald to Glancy who blasted the ball over the bar from only 6 yards out.

Morton were soon back on the attack and a cross from Walker flashed across the goal but there were no Morton players on hand, much to the relief of the Binos’ defenders. Then John Adam became the first Morton player to be booked when he had a tug on James Allan. Just before half time, Hogarth pulled off another fine save to deny Walker a second goal. The half time whistle came with the score still 1-0 which, considering the amount of possession and pressure Morton had had, was a big surprise. The Binos’ fans could only hope that their favourites would put on a better performance in the second half.

Allan Moore made 2 changes at half time with Andy Gibson replacing the ineffective James Allan and David O’Brien replacing Barry Neville. This meant Paul Hay slotting into the right back position. The changes had a dramatic effect as the Binos piled on the pressure and the first 15 minutes of the half were played almost exclusively in the Morton half of the pitch. O’Brien, in particular, was causing a lot of problems to the Morton defence and some of their defenders had to resort to illegal methods to stop him. After 55 minutes, Millar was booked for dissent as he disputed one of referee Cassidy’s decisions. A few minutes later, Gibson was booked for a foul on an unidentifiable Morton player. (Note to the Morton kitman, blue numbers on a blue and white background can sometimes be difficult to read).

A perfectly timed tackle by Nugent prevented Williams from what would have been a good goalscoring opportunity. A few minutes later, it was Stewart Devine’s turn to deny Williams. However, the Binos were soon back on the attack and a harmless looking header from Glancy ended with a corner to the Binos as the McGurn, in the Morton goal, appeared to get mixed up with the post.

With less than 10 minutes to go, Morton brought on Jason Walker for Williams and the substitute was to have an immediate impact when he capitalised on a slip by MacDonald and raced in to slide the ball past Hogarth despite the close attention of Nugent. The scorer was then booked for overdoing his celebrations.

A minute later, Morton killed the match when Millar, in a suspiciously offside position, collected the ball and put the ball past Hogarth to make it 3-0. Morton then made their final substitution when Marco Maisano replaced Adam.

The final score flattered Morton as the second half performance by the Binos deserved some reward. However, after being under the cosh for most of the first half, very few Binos’ fans would argue that the best team didn’t win. In yesterday’s newspaper, Allan Moore was quoted as having a headache about which players to leave out. After today’s performance, he might not have such a big problem for next week’s match against Berwick. James Allan didn’t capitalise on his opportunity so David O’Brien should be back in the starting line up. Andy Gibson gives the team more of an attacking option and, with Martin Glancy seemingly going off the boil, he should also bet a starting position next week.

Having beaten Berwick just 2 weeks ago, you would expect the team to bounce back but nothing is certain when you support the Binos. However, 3 points are essential as Ayr United are now only 1 point behind Stirling in 5th place.