Greenock Morton v Alloa Athletic

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Both teams seemed to have question marks in the goalkeeping position. Aidan McAdam the only keeper in Morton’s squad while Alloa are looking to cover Neil Parry’s injury from Tuesday night. Reece Willison signed on matchday and went straight into the team to face Morton.

Alloa were denied a stonewall penalty as Lynch’s freekick picked out the run of Connelly. Inside the box, Fjortoft first clumsily tripped over the back of, then grabbed the Alloa forward as they both plummeted to the deck. Referee Alan Newlands plead ignorance and awarded a goal-kick when unchallenged Connelly would have been one-on-one with McAdam.

In what’s becoming a familiar story at Cappielow, Alloa were caught out from their own attacking freekick. Connelly’s cross partially cleared. Dick’s speculative pass definitely cleared. Josh McPake, who terrorised the Alloa defence in a 3-0 defeat at Dundee last season, got the ball on the half way line, spun and got the better of Jon Robertson. With options left and right McPake placed the ball into the path of the flat-out Cameron Salkeld and he clipped it over Willison’s trailing leg to give Morton the lead.

McPake would get clear to spray a left footed shot wide of Willison’s right post. Alloa would also come close to the equaliser with Connelly pouncing on a miscommunication between goalkeeper and defender only to see his curling effort come off the head of McGinty – another detail missed by the officials.

With the half coming to a close Alloa would fail to find men in the middle. Hetherington’s corner zipping by everyone to harmlessly go for a goal kick. Minutes later, a neat Alloa move would see Trouten seemingly barged to the ground in full view of Alan Newlands. Although Dick recovered the ball to cross first time, before it went for a goal kick, there was no threat to McAdam’s goal and Alloa were again aggrieved by the lack of decisions.

HT | 1-0

Alloa almost compounded their misery with carelessness with the ball in the second half. Morton’s chip and chase tactics earning a freekick and a yellow card after a wayward touch and a high boot from Taggart. Muirhead’s free-kick struck the wall and the return shot trundled wide. Connelly’s dallying on the ball saw Morton turnover possession and create an opportunity for Orsi. He, however could only fire the first-time effort into the ground and out for a goal kick.

On the hour mark, after a contentious late kick on Taggart fell on deaf ears, the fast-breaking McPake went down to a shirt pull from Hetherington. Stevie, already on a yellow from a late challenge, inevitably walked and Alloa were down to 10 men.

Jacobs would almost seal the win with a header from just outside the six-yard box. Sending it over after rising highest from the corner.

McPake would again be at the centre of the action as he beat Taggart to the byline and went over after what looked like a clumsy challenge with minimal contact on the ball. Alan Newlands response was to book the youngster who had already been booked for encroaching an Alloa freekick in the first half. Another highly suspect decision, but it meant the Wasps were again at parity with their hosts in terms of numbers.

As the time wore on, Alloa’s pressure began to tell. A cleared corner, delivered right back into the  box by Ray Grant to an unmarked Alan Trouten. He opted for a header. It looped over McAdam but cannoned off the crossbar. The rebounding ball, knocked back by Buchanan to Dick, was then leathered only a yard over the bar.

To frustrate Alloa even more, just a minute later, a cross sliced off McGinty’s head onto Ross MacIver’s hand. A fact again not spotted by either the referee or the near side linesman who awarded an Alloa corner.

The resultant corner again didn’t test the Morton goallie as Robertson’s header was always rising above the goal.

In the 85th minute, Alloa should have been level. Lynch somehow finding himself in the left wing position launched the ball onto Buchanan’s head but the striker couldn’t keep the effort down.

Cawley, Trouten and Buchanan would all snatch at late chances but fail to bring Alloa level as Morton took all three points from the Championship opener.

Referee: Alan Newlands

 

Greenock Morton

20Aidan McAdams Goalkeeper
3Marcus Fjortoft Defender
4Brian McLean Defender
5Sean McGinty Defender
9Robbie Muirhead Midfielder
6Kyle Jacobs Midfielder
8Jim McAlister Midfielder
25Josh McPake Midfielder 35', 74'
74'
10Aidan Nesbitt 15 Midfielder
12Kalvin Orsi 23 Forward
14Cameron Salkeld 18 Forward 10'
2Michael Ledger Defender
11Gary Oliver Forward
15Craig McGuffie 10 Midfielder
18Cameron Blues 14 Midfielder
19Luca Colville Midfielder
23Ross MacIver 12 Forward
24James Wallace Forward

Alloa Athletic

21Reece Willison Goalkeeper
8Jon Robertson Midfielder 65'
2Scott Taggart Defender 51'
25Edin Lynch Defender
3Liam Dick Defender
6Steven Hetherington Midfielder 32', 60'
60'
22Ray Grant Midfielder
7Kevin Cawley Midfielder
10Alan Trouten Midfielder 45'
17Lee Connelly 12 Forward
19Robert Thomson 9 Forward
21Andy Wilson Goalkeeper
5Andy Graham Defender
9Liam Buchanan 19 Forward
12Stefan Scougall 17 Midfielder
18Blair Malcolm Midfielder
20Cameron O’Donnell Midfielder
23Innes Murray Midfielder

Ground

Cappielow
Cappielow Park, Baxter Street, Bridgend, Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland, PA15 2DJ, United Kingdom