Match Preview
Tomorrow the search for league points continues with the visit of Morton to Firhill. Ahead of tomorrow’s game manager Ian McCall spoke to www.ptfc.co.uk to provide us with all the latest news from inside Firhill.
“We have been keen to try and drum into the players that the game with Morton is a far bigger game then the fixture coming this Wednesday against Rangers.”
“I have virtually a full squad to select from for the Morton game. The only absentees are Alan Archibald and Liam Buchanan. Liam came off during a reserve game on Tuesday afternoon. The doctor took a look at Liam on Tuesday and he felt that the injury was minimal and not related to his old injury. A closer look will be taken at Liam’s injury but at the moment we will trust the doctor’s assessment.”
“Damon Gray, Mark Roberts, Chris Turner and Stephen McKeown all did very well in the aforementioned reserve game and they are very much in my thoughts for a start against Morton. It will be a last minute decision before I finally decide upon the starting line up for today’s game. It’s good to see so many players pushing hard for a place in the team and it is a good selection problem that I’m faced with.”
“I don’t think that we have done too badly in our last two league games even though we haven’t managed to record a victory in either of those games. There were circumstances behind our loss to Ross County and a draw away from home against Clyde, even though we didn’t play as well as I know that we are capable of, isn’t a bad result. After taking the lead though we had the opportunity to go on and win the game and it was disappointing that we didn’t manage to do so.”
“All of which makes it even more important that we win this afternoon against Morton. The First Division is a highly competitive league and you are from time to time bound to lose games. No one likes losing matches but it is easier to take if you win the majority of your other games. Last season we drew a few too many matches and that is something we need to improve upon this season. To be fair, the slip up against Ross County notwithstanding, we have managed to do that at Firhill this season and we need a continuation of that on Saturday against Morton.”
On the final day of last season Morton ran out 3-0 winners here at Firhill but as scorer last week against Clyde, Scott Chaplain, says its not so much revenge that is occupying the thoughts in the home dressing room as a mere desire to get back to winning ways.
“We aren’t really thinking in terms of revenge. Sure we want to get the three points but the fact that Morton beat us at the end of last season doesn’t really come into it. We go into every game that we play looking to win and it doesn’t really matter who the opposition is. We just want to get three points against Morton to make up for not winning last week and maintain our good start to the season. The game at the end of last season was a strange one. Morton needed the points to stay up while for us there wasn’t much to play for and we had a number of injuries as well. I would like to think that in, for us, a more meaningful fixture the same thing wouldn’t happen again. A win on Saturday would allow us to maintain our position up near the top of the league.”
Morton will arrive at Firhill tomorrow propping up the First Division but will be no less dangerous opponents for that. Their league form is sure to be a great source of frustration down Cappielow way. Morton’s best results thus far this season have been restricted to cup-ties. Most notably a 4-3 win against Hibs in the Co-Operative Insurance which has set up an intriguing tie with Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Cappielow this coming midweek. Morton also have an Alba Challenge Cup date with Ross County to look forward to next month .
