McKinnon revels in battling point at Cappielow

HE has been branded a Judas, a rat and a snake by the Morton support, but Ray McKinnon relished his return to Cappielow as his Falkirk side displayed the grit and character required to pull clear of the Championship relegation fight as they secured a point despite being reduced to 10 men. Morton supporters are still upset at McKinnon’s quick-fire exit to Falkirk, which landed the Bairns with a £60,000 fine for an illegal approach. There were sporadic chants aimed at their one-time manager, but they were silenced by his side’s battling display as they stretched their unbeaten run to seven games. Greg Kiltie fired Morton into a first-half lead but that was quickly cancelled out by Zak Rudden before the interval. When Paul Dixon saw red after 60 minutes for collecting his second booking from referee Andrew Dallas, Falkirk then produced an impressive defensive display to keep Morton at arm’s length from Harry Burgoyne’s goal, which was much to McKinnon’s delight. “The sending off changes the game and I thought from the sending off onwards we were fantastic defensively and hardly gave them a sniff and this turns out to be a fantastic point for us,” he said. “Our keeper didn’t have a save to make. Players plugged the holes and did the work for each other and they were fantastic in stopping Morton having chances. We’re really pleased with the point.” Morton edged ahead after 32 minutes when Kiltie, on loan from Kilmarnock, darted down the left flank, cut infield and drifted by William Edjenguele and then drilled a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. The home support enjoyed that and weren’t slow in letting McKinnon know, but it wasn’t long before he was celebrating as seven minutes later Falkirk were level. Dixon swung in a cross and Rudden powered a header beyond Robby McCrorie.