Morton match preview
Match Preview
Greenock Morton vs. Ayr United
SPFL Championship
Saturday 31st October 2020. Kick-off 3pm
On Saturday, United are on the road again for our third Championship fixture of the season, a short trip along the coast to take on Greenock Morton. A late Nikolay Todorov goal denied the Honest Men all three points – and a rare win in the Highlands – last weekend, but Mark
Kerr’s men will be looking to continue their unbeaten start to the league campaign.
Opposition : Morton have opened the Championship campaign with a 1-0 win and a 1-0 defeat – three points that sees David Hopkin’s side sit in fifth place in the early standings. A 10th minute Cameron Salkeld goal was enough to give the Ton a win on the opening weekend of the season over Alloa Athletic at Cappielow but it was an early goal by the home side Dundee that saw Morton fall at Dens Park last Saturday. Both matches have seen red cards shown to Morton players: Josh McPake was ordered off against Alloa while Robbie Muirhead picked up two yellow cards for dissent against Dundee and will miss tomorrow’s game through suspension.
Morton’s summer signings include 6ft 3in defender Markus Fjørtoft, son of former Norweigian international Jan Åge Fjørtoft; 20 year-old goalkeeper Aidan McAdams, who takes over from Danny Rodgers between the sticks, and striker Gary Oliver who swaps Queen of the
South for the Ton for a second time in his career.
Team News : Tom Walsh misses out through injury. Luke McCowan comes back into the squad after suspension.
Mark says : “We were frustrated last week as we felt that we should have came away with 3 points so we can’t wait to get back out there. Cappielow is always a tough place to go and we know they will be well organised. There is a huge incentive tomorrow to go out and get the win as 7 points out of 9 would be a pretty decent start. Our creative players will need to be at their best and we will be looking to create opportunities.”
Head to head (League) :
Ayr United wins – 63
Draws – 35
Morton wins – 50
The Honest Men are unbeaten in their last four visits to Cappielow Park.
Previous Meeting :
Morton won the last meeting between the sides, which took place at Somerset Park in February. Connor Malley opened the scoring for United with a neat finish over Danny Rodgers in the 22nd minute after the on loan Boro midfielder was played in by Aaron Drinnan. Ayr could only hold on to the lead for six minutes, however, when Kalvin Orsi scrambled home an equaliser and the Ton would go on to win the game; Nicky Cadden racing onto to a long ball out of defence to net the winner in the second half.
Earlier last season we recorded two wins over Morton, a 4-2 victory at Somerset Park in August 2019 and a 3-2 win at Cappielow in October, Mark Kerr’s first in charge of the Honest Men.
On this day : In 1936, Ayr defeated Brechin City 8-1 at home in Division Two.
Match Officials :
Referee – Greg Aitken
Assistant Referee 1 – Alastair Mather
Assistant Referee 2 – Jonathan Bell
Streaming :
Saturday’s game can be streamed for £14 at: https://tv.gmfc.net/