Arbroath 1 – 2 Greenock Morton

Arbroath 1 – 2 Greenock Morton

The Lichties suffered a narrow defeat at Gayfield this afternoon as Greenock Morton claimed all 3 points.

With the same starting eleven who defeated Inverness Caledonian Thistle last Saturday, the Lichties made a strong start with Bobby Linn and Luke Donnelly having early shots but Morton opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Luca Colville crossed for John Sutton who headed past Derek Gaston.

Morton doubled their lead just 8 minutes later when Robbie Muirhead found Luca Colville at the back post who had the simple job of tapping in.

However Arbroath wasted no time in getting back into the game when a perfect cross from Michael McKenna was met by the head of Scott Stewart who bulleted the ball into the back of the net.

Arbroath then continued to look for an equaliser with lots of play coming down the Arbroath right wing with Mark Whatley and Luke Donnelly coming close.

Morton almost scored an own goal as a cross from the right was just narrowly cleared past the post whilst Bobby Linn had a shot blocked in the 43rd minute.

Within seconds of the second half starting Luke Donnelly played a beautiful ball for David Gold who was terribly unfortunate as the Morton defender seemed to stumble into the path of his shot denying the goal.

Miko Virtanen was next to try his luck with a 20 yard drive which Danny Rodgers did well to save.

Derek Gaston pulled off a great save from Nicky Cadden in the 65th minute but it was Rodgers who pulled off the save of the match as he denied substitute Jason Thomson with a stunning save from his back post header.

As the game ran into injury time a Gavin Swankie shot agonisingly spun just on the other side of the post.

It wasn’t to be as the Morton defence again proved hard to break down, but there was nothing really between the teams and just the defensive laps which helped Morton grab all 3 points.

C’mon the Lichties

First Half Stats

Possession – Arbroath 55% – 45% Greenock Morton
Total Shots – Arbroath 6 – 5 Greenock Morton
On Target – Arbroath 4 – 3 Greenock Morton
Off Target – Arbroath 1 – 1 Greenock Morton
Blocked – Arbroath 1 – 1 Greenock Morton
Corners – Arbroath 4 – 0 Greenock Morton
Fouls Committed – Arbroath 2 – 3 Greenock Morton

Second Half Stats

Possession – Arbroath 52% – 48% Greenock Morton
Total Shots – Arbroath 11 – 8 Greenock Morton
On Target – Arbroath 6 – 4 Greenock Morton
Off Target – Arbroath 2 – 3 Greenock Morton
Blocked – Arbroath 3 – 1 Greenock Morton
Corners – Arbroath 7 – 2 Greenock Morton
Fouls Committed – Arbroath 7 – 8 Greenock Morton

Arbroath

1 – Derek Gaston
3 – Colin Hamilton
4 – Ricky Little
5 – Thomas O’Brien (c)
6 – Mark Whatley (Thomson 73)
7 – David Gold (Kader 77)
8 – Michael McKenna
11 – Bobby Linn (Swankie 72)
15 – Luke Donnelly
16 – Scott Stewart
22 – Miko Virtanen

Substitutes

2 – Jason Thomson – 6; 73rd
9 – Steven Doris
10 – Gavin Swankie – 11; 72nd
12 – Omar Kader – 7; 77th
14 – Greig Spence
18 – James Murphy
21 – Darren Jamieson (GK)

Goal – Stewart 23

Yellow Card – O’Brien 65

Greenock Morton

20 – Danny Rogers
30 – Jack Baird
4 – Brian McLean
16 – Lewis Strapp
6 – Kyle Jacobs
7 – Chris Millar (Orsi 83)
8 – Jim McAlister (c)
29 – Luca Colville
19 – Nicky Cadden (Blues 81)
9 – Robbie Muirhead
21 – John Sutton (Grant 87)

Substitutes

5 – Peter Grant – 21; 87th
10 – Aidan Nesbitt
12 – Kalvin Orsi – 7; 83rd
17 – Reece Lyon
18 – Cameron Blues – 19; 81st
28 – Adam Livingstone
1 – Sam Ramsbottom (GK)

Goals – Sutton 12, Colville 20

Yellow Card – Jacobs 61

Attendance: 1273

Officials;

Referee: Gavin Duncan
Assistant Referee 1: Dougie Potter
Assistant Referee 2: David Dunne