Captain’s Log with Jim McAlister

Good afternoon. I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.

Saturday saw us get our league campaign underway with a home fixture against Queen of the South – a game that we drew 2-2, which we were bitterly disappointed about given we had established a two-goal lead.

I feel the timing of the first goal we conceded was critical, and if we had seen out that five-minute period at 2-0, the game was over.

But we all know 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline and, unfortunately, we allowed them a soft goal to get back into the game and they got their tails up from there and went on to equalise.

Based on chances created, Queens would probably claim a point was a fair result – but it remains an extremely disappointing one for ourselves when you take the circumstances into consideration.

Before the game we held a minute’s applause for ‘Mr Morton’ Douglas Rae. I don’t even know where to start when talking about ‘the chairman’ – a great man who will be missed by so many. Saturday was a fitting tribute.

In terms of performances on the day, I have to give a couple of mentions: one to our goalkeeper, Ryan Scully who in the first half produced an unbelievable double save to get us in goalless at half-time.

We are very lucky to have two excellent goalkeepers at the club and know that, regardless of who plays, we can more than trust both of them.

The second is to one of my midfield partners, Michael Tidser. I didn’t get the opportunity to play beside him a lot in my first spell at the club as he had just came in a few months before I left

So it was been very enjoyable playing beside him this season, as well as an old team-mate in Chris Millar. So far we seem to compliment each other well, bringing different strengths to the team, and hopefully that will continue to grow.

During pre-season, the manager emphasised that it’s important that goals come from all over the park, and Tidser has certainly helped with that. Long may his goalscoring run continue!

It was also good to see Tidser’s wee painter and decorator, Ross MacLean, get off the mark in the league with a well-worked move.

Ross and I were struggling in the second half. Ross with his hamstring and me with my ankle, but neither injury seems too serious and hopefully we will both be training as the week progresses.

As for the squad, it is now nearing full fitness, with long-term absentees Robert Thomson taking part in a bounce game on Monday and Denny Johnstone back out on the training ground. That has been fantastic to see.

They have both had long journeys back to this point and will prove valuable assets to our squad when they join us in the coming weeks.

This Saturday sees us come up against a good friend of mine, and a former Morton player, in Andy Graham when we take on his Alloa side at Recreation Park.

We only need to look at their result on Saturday, coming within a couple of minutes of taking a point up at league favourites Ross County in Dingwall, to see how difficult a game it will be.

They will be a tough nut to crack, but hopefully we eradicate the mistakes from the Queen of the South game, build on the positives, and bring the points back to Cappielow.

Finally, I’d just like to say a thanks to each and every one of you who attended the game on Saturday. Your support was fantastic.

C’mon the Ton!

Jim

 

Image: Jonathan Mitchell