Greenock Morton 1 Bristol Rovers 3

Rovers comfortably eased their way to a 3-1 victory over Greenock Morton on a sunny afternoon by the banks of the Clyde in front of a crowd of just over 1,000. Around 50 or so Rovers fans were in the away end, though I’m sure others may well have been around the ground seeing as the away turnstiles weren’t exactly well signposted and at any rate to get to the seats allocated to us we had to walk the length of the main stand with nothing to stop us sitting where we liked. Nice to watch football in such a relaxed atmosphere, something I don’t expect to see much of in Division Three this season. A reasonably encouraging performance was enhanced by two lovely finishes from Jo Kuffour, those finishing touches proving the difference between the teams in the end.

Cappielow Park in all her glory

Greenock is a town which has obviously benefited from new investment over recent years, the former dockside area between the minimal town centre and Cappielow Park now being the home to offices for T-Mobile and RBS amongst others. It has to be said that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the town as a holiday destination in itself, but there’s some cracking views across the Clyde and there wasn’t quite the air of post-industrial decline I’d been led to expect. Maybe things are on the up in Inverclyde, or maybe it was just a lovely summer’s day with the return of football lending a rose tinted sheen to everything.

The home fans were a friendly bunch, so were the local coppers (not sure why they had to be on duty for such a relatively low key affair but hey, they were nice enough), stewards and everyone else. Morton rolled out the welcome mat and even running out of pies at half time and not allowing any flags to be hung up without a fire certificate didn’t really dampen the positive impression they left. I didn’t even feel too insulted that their next home match was advertised as ‘Car Boot Sale’ outside the ground – now we know how Spinal Tap felt when they were billed below the puppet show on their disastrous world tour.

That positive impression extended to their team as well, the home side playing a full part in an entertaining game, the ball being mostly kept on the deck by both teams.  Rovers went ahead in the first couple of minutes, a penalty apparently awarded for handball being dispatched by Jeff Hughes. I say ‘apparently’ as I was still on my way into the ground after enjoying the pre-match hospitality in the bar next door so I’m going on what I’ve been told… By half time we were three goals ahead of the ‘Ton, the second seeing a break down the right hand side and Jo Kuffour unmarked for several moments in the middle of the area before the ball was eventually given to him to drive home. It was 3-0 not long afterwards when Kuffour produced a gorgeous lob over the home goalie from inside the 18 yard box, scooping the ball perfectly and giving the keeper no chance whatsoever.

Jo Kuffour celebrates his second goal against Greenock Morton

The overwhelming half time scoreline was a little harsh on the home side, who had looked good building from the back but came to grief in the final third, being kept to speculative drives from distance which failed to trouble Mike Green much at all. Rovers hadn’t exactly dominated going forward either but had converted most of the chances created – on balance of play it was fairly even but balance of chances were in our favour.

The second half saw us create far fewer chances going forward while Morton once again were unable to create much more than shots from range until the final quarter of the game when Mike Green was at last forced to do some work, which he carried out more than competently. The game looked set to finish without addition to the half time scoreline until the referee awarded the second penalty of the game for… well, we weren’t sure really, there was a bit of a tussle in the area and the referee pointed to the spot. Greener was finally beaten by a well taken penalty and 3-1 was the final scoreline.

Morton dispatch a late consolation penalty past Mike Green

As far as the new signings were concerned, Tunnicliffe looked solid, as did Sawyer at left back, though he made the occasional slip by trying to be a little too fancy at time. Will Hoskins was strangely anonymous so far as my alcohol enhanced memory tells me while Wayne Brown only came on midway through the second half. Overall a satisfactory performance which was only slightly downgraded when a home fan informed us in the pub that he’d barely recognised any of his team, several trialists apparently taking part.

Gorgeous weather, a lovely proper football ground, entertaining game and result, friendly locals and meeting Gasheads with strong Glaswegian accents. What more could you ask for on your holidays?

Scottish tour preview

Pre-season tours are something I’ve wished we could have more of down the years, the only one I’ve actually managed to make it onto being the Irish sojourn under Ian Holloway in 2000 when we visited Cherry Orchard, Galway United and Shamrock Rovers in between trips to various Dublin boozers, so this week’s trip to the west of Scotland to face Greenock Morton and Partick Thistle is very welcome indeed.

On Saturday we face Morton at Cappielow Park, a ground which has been described to me as ‘a dump but it’s a proper football ground’ which means I can’t wait to visit! Morton seem to have consolidated their place in the First Division of the Scottish League in the last couple of seasons after battling back from the lowest period in the club’s history when back to back relegations and administration left them in the Third Division for the start of the 2002/3 season. The title was won at the first attempt before a string of near misses in the following seasons culminated in the Second Division title in May 2007. Last season they escaped relegation on the final day, a 2-1 win over Ayr United seeing the Ton safely into 8^th place and their visitors relegated. Allan Moore has since been appointed manager, hoping to build on the success he enjoyed when winning double promotions with Stirling Albion.

Morton are one of the oldest clubs in Scotland, founded in 1874, and it’s fair to say that their best years are probably behind them – a runners up finish behind Celtic in 1917 and a Scottish Cup win in 1922 being their finest hours, their last stay in the Premier Division being in 1987/88. These days gates average a shade under 2,000 inside their 11,000 capacity home in the shadow of the giant crane behind the Wee Dublin End, just a stone’s throw from the Clyde, though they may expect a few more 10 days after we visit when bitter local rivals St Mirren visit to contest the Renfrewshire Senior Cup Final.

Tuesday evening sees us visiting the Maryhill district of Glasgow to play Partick Thistle, another of Scotland’s oldest clubs (formed in 1876) and who finished a couple of places ahead of Morton last season. The Jags have endured something of a yo-yo existence in the last decade or so, being relegated four times and promoted three times between 1996 and 2006, and it never seems to be dull at Firhill from what I can tell from a very long way south of north west Glasgow.

Thistle attract support from the nearby campuses of Glasgow University and Strathclyde University, leading to a mocking stereotype of Jags fans being middle class liberals with a disdain for the more political outlooks of their two larger Glasgow neighbours. Whether this is fair or not, they certainly like to distance themselves from sectarianism, their songs containing some humourous observations on the Old Firm. Crowds average around 2500 – 3000 with capacity standing at a shade over 13,000.

Firhill itself is three sided at the moment and seems to be a ground in transition from the traditional seated stands/terraced ends model to something more modern without the money to complete it. I’m told there’s good drinking to be had in the area around the ground, especially on the Maryhill Road and apparently it’s the closest ground to Glasgow city centre.

I can definitely recommend Glasgow as a place to visit for a few days, having visited several times over the years. The locals are friendly enough and there’s plenty to do, especially with three of the most famous grounds in Britain all offering guided tours and the Scottish Football Museum to see at Hampden. Having done the Parkhead tour on a previous visit to the city I can definitely recommend it! Should you exhaust the possibilities of Glasgow, Edinburgh is only a short train ride away and again, it’s definitely worth a day trip if you’ve not seen that part of the world before.

See you up there!