Morton Catch-Up

 

No rest for the wicked and we face Morton at the Caledonian Stadium on Tuesday night, the game kicking-off at 7:00pm with live streaming available from Caley Jags TV. In this cut-throat league we have got to the stage where a play-off slot is achievable. Unfortunately, that's more likely at the wrong end of the table although both options are still available with only ten games left for us. We could go a long way to relieving some of the pressure on ourselves by beating Morton who have fallen just below us in the table, but we are Caley Jags and we don't take the easy options.

		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1.	Hearts	19	13	3	3	46	21	25	42
2.	Raith Rovers	16	8	3	5	32	24	8	27
3.	Dunfermline	17	7	6	4	26	19	7	27
4.	Queen of the South	19	8	3	8	30	37	-7	27
5.	Dundee	17	6	6	5	31	32	-1	24
6.	Arbroath	19	5	6	8	17	24	-7	21
7.	Inverness CT	17	4	8	5	25	22	3	20
8.	Ayr United	17	5	5	7	22	21	1	20
9.	Morton	18	4	7	7	16	24	-8	19
10.	Alloa Athletic	19	3	5	11	21	42	-21	14

 

OFFICIAL PREVIEW

 

Last 10 Competitive Meetings against Morton back to April 2018

2 - 2 (A)

3 - 2 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

3 - 1 (H)

5 - 0 (H)

2 - 2 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

3 - 0 (A)

On Saturday we battled from behind to earn a draw at Alloa after Innes Cameron had given the hosts the lead. Nikolay Todorov replied for the Caley Jags before the Interval and that's how it ended. Both keepers made decent saves and that's the reason there was no further scoring. Well that and a couple of shocking misses. Good to see Lewis Toshney involved with the squad, even it was just sitting on the bench. His experience could be useful in the final few games of the season.

Since drawing 2-2 with us in January, Morton have failed to win in five games although a couple of deserved draws with Hearts and Dundee have been undermined by poor results against Arbroath and Raith Rovers. However a 0-2 defeat from Ayr United at the weekend has dumped Morton below Ayr and Inverness although there is only one point in it. 

Both sides are in a rut at the moment. Neither side has an out and out goal scorer, both sides have only four wins and are flirting with the relegation zone and both sides need the points. What could possibly go wrong?

There is one other game tonight in the Championship as Raith Rovers take on Ayr United at Stark's Park which is also a 7:00pm kick-off. Dunfermline v Dundee is postponed due to a covid outbreak at East End Park with players having to self isolate.

***Latest Team News***

Neil McCann: We have a doubt over Cameron Harper who was precautionarily substituted at Alloa. Better news is that Aaron Doran is back training. Todorov and Sutherland are our top scorers this season with five apiece and Raith bound James Keatings has four. Scott Allardice is our most booked player with five yellow's.

Antone McElhone used these players in the home defeat to Ayr United: McAdams, Ledger, McLean, McGinty, Strapp (Muirhead 50′), Jacobs, McGuffie (Johnson 65′), Colville (Sterling 65′), Blues, Nesbitt, Salkeld.

Left back Lewis Strapp is a doubt for Morton after he was injured in the game against Ayr United where Robbie Muirhead replaced him after fifty minutes. A foot injury could see Strapp miss this one.

Kalvin Orsi, Cameron Blues and Craig McGuffie are the Ton's top scorers with three goals each this season.

 

 

This post has been promoted to an article

I've waited almost 24 hours before commenting on the abject performance I witnessed last night.  Without a doubt I would rate it the worst performance I have seen from ICT, either live or on TV , since we came into being.

I can hardly believe how far we have fallen in such a short time. 2nd in the division last season (and unlucky not to get a shot at promotion through the play-offs), to 2nd bottom now and in real danger of relegation.  What on earth has gone wrong?  I know we lost a few players, and have had our share of injuries, but our squad should still be strong enough to see off the likes of Morton, Alloa, Arbroath,  without too much trouble.

We clearly lack a consistent goal scorer (have done for a good while imo), and as others have said, we have no clear leadership on the pitch. I've never been a fan of goalkeepers being captain, but who could do it?  Perhaps Carson,  but imo he seems to be a red card waiting to happen in most games.

We just don't create enough good chances. No creativity which perhaps Doran could supply (but tbh I think he is probably past his best, even on the rare occasions he is fit enough to play).  Too often our midfield will take the easy option of a back pass from a good position, instead of seeking the decisive, defence breaking pass.  Also, I have my heart in my mouth when we try to play out from the back with the tippy tappy stuff.  It rarely is effective for us.

Anyway, rant over for now.  I will still support ICT through thick and thin. They have given me the best football experiences of my life (eg 2015), and no matter what division we play in, they will always be 'my team'.

Here's hoping for some more 'good times' soon.

Caley mad i agree with all you have said, The other thing i feel i have to bring to your post is that we have a lack of pace in midfield, Only Storey has that ability and most of the time he runs himself into knots! 

Doran has lost a lot of his skills due to his continuing lack of game time and is not really able to give us that wee bit extra.

Macdonald might have helped had he not got injured training, The need to have a player that can get in behind a packed defence is glaringly obvious, Only hope the Raith game will give us some joy as by feck we need it bad!!  

In case anyone wants to watch the “highlights” from last night’s poor game, they are at the foot of the article in this link:

https://ictfc.com/match-report-ictfc-0-1-morton

The offside decision at the end looks tight to me, but not a good angle to judge for certain. The defender close to Doran may have been playing Toddy on.

 

 

Edited March 10, 20214 yr by Robert

The camera work and clarity is just so much better than the Pixellot rubbish.  I must say than when I saw the live stream with no zoom and no replay, I thought Roddy's early effort was a pretty tame one straight at the keeper, but actually it was a well taken effort with a very sharp low stop by the keeper.

We aren't playing great at the moment but I'm sure the Pixellot system makes it seem worse than it actually is.  However disappointing the result may be, the highlights by the in-house team certainly bring the good bits to life.

9 hours ago, Robert said:

The offside decision at the end looks tight to me, but not a good angle to judge for certain. The defender close to Doran may have been playing Toddy on.

I assume you mean the defender next to Deas? The Morton player closest to Doran is on the edge of the box and Todorov is well inside the penalty area. The Morton defender on the right side is a bit closer but again Toddy is still a couple of steps behind everyone. It's not really close at all.