SHANKLAND SENDS OUT BOLD STATEMENT
SHORTLY after scoring the goal which secured victory for his new club, his name echoed around the Cappielow terraces with an intensity of noise that probably carried along the M8 to Paisley. ‘One Lawrence Shankland,’ chanted the Morton fans, offering a warm embrace to the striker after he cut short his spell at rivals St Mirren, crossed the Renfrewshire divide, and headed to Greenock on a loan deal from Aberdeen until the end of the season. It was a stirring soundtrack to his debut and no less than his performance deserved. On this evidence, it can only be viewed as a glaring error of judgment from those in charge of St Mirren. He stopped short of sticking the knife into his former club, admittedly, but Shankland certainly didn’t seem to express much regret about leaving St Mirren. Out of contract at Aberdeen at the end of the season, the 21-year-old also wants to fire Morton to promotion as a means of earning himself a new deal at Pittodrie. ‘I haven’t been playing much, so it was great just to get back out on the pitch and get 90 minutes under my belt,’ he said. ‘Scoring on my debut was a nice bonus. ‘I spoke to St Mirren and they basically just told me that I was going to continue being frustrated (at being on the bench). ‘They made it clear that I wasn’t going to play as much as I wanted, so it was best for everyone if I just moved on. ‘I was happy with that and I’m delighted now to be here at Morton. We are right in the mix for promotion and I want to play my part in helping us achieve it.’ Morton’s opening goal came midway through the first half and in fortuitous circumstances; Ross Forbes’ inswinging cross evading the Raith defence and their keeper Kevin Cuthbert to nestle into the bottom corner. Morton turned the screw after the interval and pinned Raith back, as evidenced by the adventure shown in Mark Russell’s overlapping run from left-back on 67 minutes. He dinked a cross to the back post, where Shankland was left unmarked to head past Cuthbert. It was Shankland’s first league goal since scoring for St Mirren against Morton in April of last season. With their team still rooted to the bottom of the table and the sides due to meet again on March 25, some Saints fans already fear what their former player might do to them…