2018 had started badly weather-wise and I was going stir crazy sitting in the house watching telly.
There was only one thing for it. Try to build on an affection for my local senior side and attend the Renfrewshire Derby in Greenock. Time to join the away fans for Morton v St Mirren…
My only previous visit to Cappielow was back in July 2014 when I sat in the home stand and watched Morton beat Lowland League side Spartans 1 – 0 in a cup game. This time, I expected a little more atmosphere.
Getting to Cappielow involved trains from Johnstone to Paisley and then on to Cartsdyke before walking the last ten minutes to the stadium. I met up with Kenny the Panda at Paisley and joined the train with a number of black and white clad buddies who were in voice (not fine I’m afraid).
Things didn’t look good when we got off the train in Cartsdyke as the heaven’s had opened and we knew there was no cover in the away end of the ground. The Panda even suggested sitting in the main stand amongst the Morton faithful although that idea was dismissed almost immediately it came out his mouth. We needn’t have worried as, while there were a couple of showers before 3.00pm, the rain had stopped by kick off time and it remained dry for the duration of the game.
We took our places at the top of the away end – a high bank of bench seats – which, to be fair, offered a great view of the playing surface. Needless to say no-one stood. While it might not be a popular think to say in Paisley, I like Cappielow Park with its uncovered end and traditional stands.
Armed with a pretty decent burger (the snack van had no pie option), we settled down to watch a first half that the Saints pretty much controlled with their passing game. While there was some decent pass and move on display, I do feel that they overplay things a bit and while they maintain good possession, the last couple of games haven’t shown many clear cut chances. Having said all that, Lewis Morgan put the visitors ahead on 25 minutes following another passing move and it was perhaps a little unlucky that St Mirren weren’t more than one goal to the good at half time.
The second half was a different story. As you would expect from a home side who are a goal down, Morton came out all guns blazing and pressed the Saints far more than they did in the first period. Starved of space, St Mirren lost their composure and the Ton took control of a game which became much more of the niggly derby game I was expecting. The Saints survived a couple of possible penalty shouts but the inevitable happened in the 80th minute when Morton equalised courtesy of a free header from a corner. Against the run of play, St Mirren almost found a winner in the last minute but the whistle went at 1 – 1 with the home side probably happier with a single point against the promotion chasing rivals.
A decent afternoon’s entertainment but still not quite enough to convert me to a full time Buddies.
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