Scottish 2nd Division
Sat 4th Oct 03
Cappielow Park

Morton this week suffered that rarest of occurrences nowadays - a defeat. A 3-1 win by visitors Berwick Rangers inflicted a double whammy on Morton as they lost for the first time in the league this season as well as the first in the league at Cappielow in over a year.

Morton set out to play their usual style of football, one that is a joy to watch, is effective and receives plaudits from those connected with other teams. Berwick too had their own plan which ultimately proved far more devastating and resourceful. Soak up everything that Morton throw at them and punt the ball to safety and also counter when the chance presented itself. Well the chances were few and far between with only four in the whole match for the visitors, but the results were clinical, of these four attacks they scored three goals.

Morton started well with chances falling to a few players and it appeared that the goal would come. In fact it did but at the wrong end. In their first attack of the game after 18 minutes the visitors opened the scoring. Gordon Connolly played a one-two with Paul Hampshire before running clear. With space and time he fired past Coyle.

As usual Morton were a goal behind at home but many would have expected them to come back given their ability and the possession they had. Add to this the fact that Berwick's goal was their solitary attack.

No matter what Ton threw at them in their search for the equaliser it just wasn't to come and the home side went in 1-0 down.

Morton got back into this game by drawing level 10 minutes into the second half. For once in this game they copied Berwick and showed some directness with their attack, and it certainly got the desired result. Paul Walker received the ball midway in the opposition half and with a quick turn he carried the ball on a darting run goalwards. As the space opened up he let fly. 'Keeper Ross Godfrey got his hands on the ball but couldn't keep it out.

This was the equaliser that everyone expected. The solitarily break and goal from the visitors was cancelled out. Surely now the outcome was clear. Morton with their possession would go on and get the winner. Wouldn't they?

If in-game betting was available the bookies would agree and the odds on Morton doing just that would be very short indeed. Anyone who took those odds would be a bit lighter in the wallet now though.

The plan was thrown out of the window as Berwick executed their own plan more effectively. They soaked up the pressure that Ton put on them while looking for the second goal and broke away on another rare attack. This time as before with the same clinical outcome. Hampshire passed to Gary McCutheon who drilled the ball past Coyle.

Already shaken by this any hope was wiped out as only two minutes later Gareth Huthison bulleted home a header to extend Berwick's lead to two goals.

There was no way back after that and a rapidly emptying Cappielow greeted the final whistle which confirmed just that.

A couple of things are certain, manager John McCormack and the players will analyse what went wrong and do their upmost to rectify it. The other thing? Well all those superstitious Morton fans will be wondering just what they did different leading up to or during the game. Now did I have my lucky boxer shorts on on Saturday?

Morton: Coyle, Collins(80), Bottiglieri, Macgregor, Greacen, Marco Maisano(75), Millar, John Maisano, Williams(75), Weatherson, Walker. Subs: Hawke(75), Bannerman(75), Uotinen(80), Gaughan, McGurn.

Berwick: Godfrey, Murie, Bennett, Cowan, McNicoll, Waldie, Connelly, Connell, Hutchison, McCutcheon(83), Hampshire.Subs: Hilland, Blackley(83), Joe Robertson, McAllister, Inglis.

Referee: C Hardie