Ibrox tie will keep red-hot Ton on boil, says Murdoch
MORTON’S Andy Murdoch can’t wait to take on Rangers in the Scottish Cup and believes the tie can help the Cappielow side continue their stunning league form.
The player, who left Rangers permanently in the summer after a series of loan deals, is relishing the chance to return to Ibrox for the fifth-round clash and hopes the prospect of the glamour tie can keep everyone at Morton sharp.
“I’m looking forward to it, but we’ve got some important games before then so we need to focus on them before we can allow ourselves to think about Rangers,” said Murdoch.
“I’ll just be treating it as a normal game. If you get too caught up in the occasion and think too much about it, then you won’t perform to your best. I’m just really looking forward to it.
“It’s a cup game, so they usually have a different atmosphere and hopefully that’s the case when we play them and we can thrive off it.
“People will be wanting to stake a claim for that game, so it might even help us over the next few weeks in the league.”
Murdoch felt he had to get out of Ibrox at the end of last season after loan spells at Cowdenbeath and Queen of the South gave him a taste for regular first-team football.
Knowing he was not in manager Mark Warburton’s plans, the 21-year-old chose to join Morton rather than stagnate in the Rangers development squad.
“I did pre-season with them after being out on loan and getting games,” he said.
“Sometimes people don’t fancy you for whatever reason and you just have to move on.
“I could have stayed if I wanted to, but I think the right decision was to leave because I had to get games and I just felt like I was being held back. I time you’ve got with them. I remember when we signed Gary Pallister, £2.3million was a record for a centre-back, but, we got nine, 10 years out of Gary and sold him again for £2.5m.
“So the only way you can judge is that and with the case of Wayne, what we felt at the time was 18-years of age, he had huge potential.
“Hopefully if we have got him for 10 years, £27million is nothing. It is gone like that... the value was there, no question.” didn’t want to just sit about for ages and stall my development, so I have no regrets about joining Morton.
“Reserve football is only good to a point, and it was time for me to get out there.”
MURDOCH has formed an impressive partnership in the middle of the park with Jamie Lindsay, the on-loan Celtic player, but admits it is strange to be on the same side as him after spending their formative years as direct rivals.
“We played each other all the time because we were the same age group, so we were always coming up against one another for Rangers and Celtic,” he said.
“We were also away on a few Scotland camps when we were younger and he’s a very good player. It was a bit strange at first to be playing together after so long as rivals, but it’s great to play with him.”
Not that Lindsay is the only player he has formed an understanding with. Morton have been the surprise package of the Championship, and Murdoch puts that down to their incredible team ethic.
“We’re quite happy to go about our business under the radar and not get too far ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“We’ve been really good as a team. In the St Mirren game on Hogmanay we went down to 10 men but got behind each other to get a result. That team ethic that has got us to where we are.
“I’m just glad to be playing and getting games. All I want to do is keep playing.”