Leaderless Clubs Battle It Out


Scottish Cup action this weekend and both sides find that they have something in common in the run up to this game. Neither team has a permanent manager in place after the departure of Terry Butcher at Inverness and Allan Moore at Cappielow.

Greenock Morton have parted company with manager Allan Moore after a series of poor results have left them two points adrift of Cowdenbeath at the foot of the Championship. A 1-5 thrashing from Livingston has them taking only nine points from fourteen games and a goal difference of minus seventeen is not good. Their ninth Scottish Championship defeat of the season was obviously the last straw for chairman Douglas Rae. Knocking Celtic out of the League Cup was not enough to keep Moore in his job and he takes with him Mark McNally. Moore had been in charge for three and a half years.

Since news of Butcher's worst kept secret was revealed, Duncan Shearer and Scott Kellacher have a 100% record in charge of the team, defeating Hibernian and St Johnstone, something Butcher struggled to do recently. The youth coaches will happily hand over the reins to the new Mr (or Mrs) X prior to the Morton game as the shortlist is whittled down by the Inverness board.

The last time these teams met was two and a half years ago. Incidentally, that was also a Scottish Cup game which was played in the Highlands and it was notable for more than just the 5-1 scoreline in favour of the home side. Adam Rooney was on a hat-trick when he was given a goalden opportunity to notch his third goal. All he had to do was connect with the ball from five yards out with the goal at his mercy, the rest is history .............



Richie Foran (2), Adam Rooney (2), and a debut goal from Chris Hogg saw Inverness cruise past Morton who only had a late consolation from Derek Lyle to show for their efforts. 1893 hardy souls attended that game and were rewarded with a comfortable win for Inverness and six goals to relish. For Inverness, only Graeme Shinnie, Richie Foran, Aaron Doran and Ryan Esson have survived the Butcher's knife from the squad that were selected for that game, although Nick Ross would have been injured at this point.

It's nine games since Morton last beat Inverness, a 2-0 win in November 2010. In fourteen meetings, all of which have been in the old first division apart from the 5-1 cup game, Morton have only two victories to their credit, with one draw and eleven wins for Inverness. Morton have averaged 1 goal per game in seven matches at Inverness and we are running at over 3.5 per game in the Highlands against the Ton. Our worst score at home was the game Nick Ross scored his first goal in a 1-0 win in March 2010. Cue a no-scoring draw now! That would be a first.

Morton's best result against Inverness was also a 5-1 win on a Friday night at Cappielow. Here is the extract from the CTO vaults on this fateful night for the Caley Jags:- This match was switched to Friday night because of the Scotland against England Euro 2000 Qualifier. It proved to be a disaster for the visitors - a crushing defeat by a very good Morton side. It was all very close in the first half but in the second half the Caley Thistle defence went to pieces. Morton took advantage of the errors and finished clinically. Keith Wright scored in 14 minutes but Ross Tokely equalised in 41 minutes. With half time looming Harry Curran made it 2-1 and in the second half Caley Thistle were over-run. Graeme Morrison, Ross Matheson and Stephen Aitken all netted to make the final score 5-1 – the most goals ever lost by Caley Thistle in a match. This fixture had a crowd of 1900.

However, Inverness did gain revenge for that hammering and in January 2010 we thrashed Morton 6-2. Once more from the archives:- Revenge for the 5-1 defeat at Cappielow in November. 0-0 at half time but 8 goals in the second half. The opener was a brilliant solo effort by Kevin Byers and the second was a knock-in by Martin Bavidge after the ‘keeper failed to hold a Barry Wilson shot. Wilson flicked in a Paul Sheerin cross for 3-0 and Sheerin did the same for 4-0 after Maxwell touched out a Wilson cross. Michael Hart pulled one back with a low drive then Wilson made it 5-1 with a superb 25 yard angled lob into the top corner. Calder misjudged a cross from the right and allowed Harry Curran to make it 5-2 but right on the whistle Ross Tokely ran through to hit number 6 after Maxwell pushed away his first attempt. The only blight on the day was a leg injury to Mark McCulloch just before half time – David Hind came off the bench to make his debut appearance, in front of a crowd of 1524.

Back to the future, and Morton will bring a couple of familiar names with them. Ex-Inverness wide midfielder Dougie Imrie who scored the winner at Parkhead from the spot and none other than Nacho Novo, the former Rangers striker. Both of these players have scored here in previous games against Inverness. Imrie, spectacularly in the opening minute for Hamilton with a thirty yard thunderbolt, and Novo for the club that used to be known as Rangers.

Inverness are narrowing down their search for a manager and the final selection will see a new manager definitely in place before our next SPFL game. Paul Hartley is believed to be one of the front runners for the vacancy. James Vincent is still out and Nick Ross lost a tooth or two last week in a face knock but other than that it is a clean bill of health for Shearer and Kellacher to pick from. They won't however have Richie Foran available to them as he is suspended for this cup game.

Morton also have a suspended player in Kabba-Modou Cham, that should please the commentators. Reece Hands and David O'Brien are out but Scott Taggart should return after injury. David Hopkin will supervise the Morton squad who will need a lift after the departure of Moore and their poor league form.

The Scottish Cup fifth round draw will be minus at least four Premiership clubs as they go head to head, top tie being Hearts v Celtic on Sunday. The Rangers face a tricky tie at Falkirk and St Mirren will be sure of a tough game at Queen of the South. Terry Butcher returns to the Highlands as Hibs take on our neighbours Ross County who I'm sure would like to stick one on Terry's chin. And, the romance of the cup is still alive for the Broch, as Fraserburgh travel to Ochilview. Hardly a glamour tie for only non-league club left in the tournament, but good luck to them nonetheless.