MORTON MAGIC CRUSHES JAGS
MORTON jumped into the play-off spots last night as they came from behind to thump Partick Thistle and left Gary Caldwell still searching for his first win as Jags boss.
The visitors took the lead through a Brice Ntambwe header early in the first half, before goals from Gary Oliver, Jack Iredale, Michael Tidser and a Bob McHugh double earned Morton all three points.
After last week’s defeat to Ayr United, Caldwell insisted he would find the reasons why Thistle weren’t winning games and, with the January transfer window coming up, said he would ‘make changes’ to improve the team.
The players looked to respond to their manager’s strong comments and started the match on the front foot. Jai Quitongo caused his former side regular problems, keeping the defence under pressure early on.
A well-worked corner put Thistle in front after 16 minutes. Craig Slater picked out Ntambwe with a curling ball and the Belgian sent a bullet header past Derek Gaston to score the Jags’ first goal under Caldwell.
Morton reacted strongly to going behind, with Iredale picking out Oliver at the near post, but the ball got away from the striker before he could manage a shot. The pair combined again two minutes later, with the result much more pleasing for the Cappielow fans.
Iredale found Oliver in the six-yard box with a low curling ball across the face of goal, allowing the 23-year-old a simple tap in past Cammy Bell.
The hosts kept up the pressure and went in front two minutes before the half-time whistle. Iredale was again the architect as he sent the ball towards the near post. The wind kept it hanging in the air longer than anticipated but McHugh reacted faster than anyone and generated enough power to send his header into the back of the net.
After the break, Iredale added his name to the goal sheet following his two assists in the opening 45 minutes. The Australian was picked out at the back post and his sliding shot from a tight angle was too powerful for Bell to keep out.
‘Jack’s got some great offensive abilities for a full-back,’ said Morton manager Jonatan Johansson.
‘I’ve told him not to be anybody else but himself. Like all footballers, he’s got certain things he’s not that good at. It’s about minimising those and doing the basics right and then expressing yourself with the stuff you’re good at.’
Things went from bad to worse for Thistle on 71 minutes when McHugh robbed make-shift centre-back Christie Elliott of the ball, drove into the box and scored from a tight angle.
Tidser wrapped up the scoring five minutes later when he caught Bell off his line and sent the ball into the back of the net from 25 yards out.
The result means that it is now six defeats in a row for Thistle and there were strong words from their boss for the second week in a row.
‘I’ll fix it,’ said Caldwell, who refused to talk about the comments he made about Hibernian boss Neil Lennon earlier this week.
‘But every week that goes by another player gets ticked off the list that I don’t think will be part of it.
‘I’m in the door three weeks and we’ve lost three games. Not because teams were better than us but because they wanted to beat us more than we wanted it. For a footballer, that should be the most hurtful thing anybody can say about them.
‘Come January, personnel will change if results don’t change before then. We have too many players who didn’t want it enough today.’