Raith Rovers 1-2 Greenock Morton: Revenge for Morton

Sunday, 24 January 2010 18:56

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Morton come full circle from Irons hammering

By Will Lyon

Morton recovered from their midweek cup exit to give their chances of survival a shot in the arm.

The win also extracted sweet revenge on their hosts, after being dismantled on their last visit to Kirkcaldy, which signalled the end of David Irons tenure.

Peter Weatherston scored either side of half-time to hand the current gaffer James Grady's side all three points.

Labelled as a ‘six pointer’ before the match, there was everything to play for at a cold and damp Starks Park.

After the 5-0 thrashing Morton handed out to the Rovers in the previous fixture between the two sides, Raith fans must have feared the worst when goalkeeper David McGurn fumbled a weak header from Morton forward, Brian Graham after just two minutes. However, Rovers soon settled down and almost took the lead when defender Laurie Ellis met Allan Walker’s corner, but the ball bulleted narrowly over the crossbar.

Ellis was involved in the action again on the 24th minute when he swung in a cross to the far post, but Johnny Russell could only hit the woodwork and Morton’s Dominic Shimmin tidied up after him. By this point you could argue that Rovers should have been 2-0 up.

The Kirkcaldy side would come to regret their missed chances as ten minutes later Morton took the lead when Grant Murray was unable to challenge Morton striker Peter Weatherston, who headed a Jim McAllister cross into the bottom corner of the net.

Very little happened after the goal and the teams headed to the dressing rooms with Morton having a slightly undeserved 1-0 lead.

Five minutes after the restart Rovers striker Kevin Smith was deliberately hauled down 35 yards out from goal by last man, Ryan McGuffie, who received a yellow card for his troubles. On another day, McGuffie could well have seen red for his challenge.

After a bright start to the second half by Raith, Morton hit the home side on the break as McAllister found the unmarked Weatherston and he made no mistake by slotting the ball past McGurn.

The home side then huffed and puffed as Morton took their time and tried to see the game out. However, on the 80th minute Shimmin charged down Gregory Tade and the referee immediately pointed to the spot.

Although there wasn’t any protest from the Morton players, referee Crawford Allan may have got the call wrong as the tackle did look to have been made slightly outside of the box. However, Kevin Smith was not in the slightest bit bothered and he smashed the ball into the middle of the net as Colin Stewart’s trailing hand couldn’t quite keep his clean sheet intact.

For the remainder of the game, Rovers dumped the ball in the Morton box as they threw men forward in search of a late equaliser and with just minutes to go, Rovers substitute Iain Williamson somehow hit a shot wide from 10 yards when he had half of the goal to aim for.

Overall, Rovers will feel unlucky not to have got a point from the game, but Morton won’t mind as they get three points further away from the relegation positions and close the gap between themselves and Rovers to eight points.

Raith Rovers: McGurn, Wilson, Ellis, Campbell, Murray, Walker, Russell (Darren Smith 68), Simmons, Kevin Smith, Tade (Weir 85), Ferry (Williamson 68). Subs Not Used: O'Connor, Sloan.
Booked: Williamson. Goal: Kevin Smith 79 pen.

Morton: Stewart, McGuffie, Reid, Shimmin, Greacen, Tidser (Paartalu 55), Finlayson, Jenkins, Weatherson, Graham (Russell 79), McAlister. Subs Not Used: Cuthbert, MacGregor, Monti.
Booked: Tidser, McGuffie. Goals: Weatherson 33, 52.

Attendance: 1,702
Referee: Crawford Allan