On Monday the 13th of December Morton took on runaway Highland league side Deveronvale Football Club at Cappielow. The game took place on the Monday night after the original date was rescheduled due to a frozen pitch. What a game it was!. A crowd of 1,645 attended Cappielow to see Morton defeat plucky ‘Vale 4-3. Morton raced into a three goal lead, Vale pulled one back, a Williams penalty made it 4-1 before a spirited comeback from the Banff side made it 4-3. Of particular note was the quality goal scored by the away sides ex Ross County defender Bryan Dlugonski. The goal in question was a candidate for the Tennents Scottish Cup goal of the season.

Through the Mortonunofficial.net message-board a rapport seemed to build up between the two clubs. This was aided not only by Deveronvale’s spirited performance but also their large (compared to 3rd division rivals) and vocal travelling support. This rapport also seemed to build off the field as this summer will see Morton travelling to Princess Royal Park for a pre-season friendly. Older connections include a friendly between the teams in 1991, Morton signing Mark Simpson (now of Peterhead) from the highland club on the recommendation of ex ‘Ton player and then Deveronvale boss Joe Harper.

This season under the stewardship of manager Gregg Carrol, Deveronvale, who play in predominantly Red strips with white trim finished 17 points clear of second placed Keith at the top of the Highland league. Top goal-scorer Ian Murray scored an astonishing 47 goals in all competitions and according to the Deveronvale website (www. Deveronvale.co.uk) ‘Molby’ interestingly claims to be a professional gigolo. Remind you of anyone ? Possibly last season’s third division top goalscorer ?. In fact Ian Murray and fellow ‘Vale marksman Mike McKenzie represented the Scotland Junior team at a home nations tournament recently which if I remember correctly they won. Murray scored a goal in the tournament. Is this the makings of a worthy candidate to become a senior club?

Although different fans have different opinions it is this football fans opinion that the ‘closed shop’ of the S.F.L is neither exciting nor rewarding. Falkirk were recently deprived of S.P.L status which has lead to much criticism from all quarters, could the same not be said of the S.F.L. Clubs who finish bottom of division 3 face no consequence for their poor season. As a result this harbours a lack of ambition with many clubs at basement level content to stay there for the long term. Contrastingly many ambitious S.F.A member clubs outside the senior set up have no great incentive for any ambition until a free space becomes available in the seniors. Many of the beneficiaries of ‘promotion’ to the Third division have flourished and been a credit to their former leagues. In particular former Highland league clubs such as Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County, to a lesser extent Peterhead and Elgin who seem to be laying positive foundations for next season under ex Rangers and Aberdeen left back David Robertson. Who can forget May 10th when Peterhead contributed to what was Greenock Morton’s finest hour for a long time. The question this article poses is whether there should be a ladder from Non league to league in the same way as the Conference, Unibond and Rhyman sections provide entry to Nationwide Division three. In this system ambitious teams can be allowed to grow and progress whereas those with lesser or no ambition must find some or face the consequences.

For example apart from the travelling distance how many third division fans would honestly say that East Stirlingshire are a more valuable addition to the S.F.L than Deveronvale would be. At their final game of the season they attracted a crowd of 630 for a match v Huntly whereas East Stirling on average attract somewhere between 100 and 300 home fans. Furthermore Albion Rovers who were pushing for promotion to division 2 finished the season with an average attendance of 480. If Deveronvale were in a similar position would their crowds have been higher ? Who knows .

A major stumbling block would be the set up of the proposed system. Would it include Highland league sides only? , would it incorporate East of Scotland league sides? Would the respective leagues amalgamate ? , and how would the relegated side fit into their new league in respect to travelling distance etc. As a result this article is not a definitive suggestion of how it could be done, only if it should be done. Maybe the Morton fans will be better able to up their minds if they travel up to Princess Royal Park for the preseason friendly in July and judge the set up for themselves.

JonaTon