Morton rise but McKinnon’s men stare into abyss
RAY McKINNON’S name rang around the Falkirk Stadium but unfortunately for the beleaguered Bairns boss the chants were emanating from the away support.
Morton’s travelling fans took great delight in sending their former manager, who departed the club in controversial circumstances in August, to the foot of the table and staring relegation in the face with just two games remaining.
In doing so, the Cappielow side boosted their own survival hopes as their first win in eight league outings, courtesy of second-half goals from Greg Kiltie and Charlie Telfer, lifted them to sixth place.
Morton boss Jonatan Johansson could hardly hide his excitement as he hailed his players for claiming a crucial victory in what he dubbed the biggest game of his career.
He said: ‘I’m delighted and exhausted as well. It was an excellent performance. We’ve been on a bad run but the last two games have been excellent, especially today.
‘There was a lot of pressure on the players and to perform like they have done in the last two games and to pick up four points is credit to them.
‘Of course, everybody knew what was at stake. That was by far the biggest game of my career and the biggest game of the season for my team, and we rose to the occasion.’
With so much at stake, it was no surprise that free-flowing football was in short supply.
Falkirk had a half-hearted appeal for a penalty when Gregor Buchanan slid in to divert Zak Rudden’s cross behind for a corner, with the striker claiming it had struck the defender’s arm.
Morton looked more likely to make the breakthrough and Harry Burgoyne produced a fine save to deny Kiltie when the ball broke to the on-loan attacker.
Telfer fizzed a 25-yard drive just wide and when Reece Lyon tried his luck from distance Burgoyne beat it away and Kiltie headed the rebound over the crossbar.
Morton edged ahead inside three minutes of the second half when Telfer produced a bit of magic on the byeline to deceive Ian McShane and then his cut-back was deflected into the path of Kiltie. The striker kept his cool to drill a low shot into the bottom corner. How the travelling support enjoyed that and they let McKinnon know their feelings loud and clear.
It wasn’t long before they were celebrating again, when Telfer doubled their advantage after 54 minutes as he profited from a defensive blunder by William Edjenguele and Ciaran McKenna.
Falkirk’s centre-half pairing collided as they failed to deal with a bouncing ball and Kiltie nipped in as Edjenguele’s header fell way short of Burgoyne. Kiltie then teed up Telfer and he produced a composed finish.
Falkirk were then temporarily down to nine men as Edjenguele and McKenna were patched up following their clash of heads.
The Bairns tried to force their way back into the game but they were denied by an inspired performance from Robby McCrorie. The goalkeeper produced three fine saves to deny Rudden twice and also substitute Aaron Jarvis as Morton held on for a massive win.
McKinnon was furious with his side’s inept display and said: ‘There’s no sugar-coating this performance, we deserved nothing out of the game. We were poor from start to finish and soundly beaten.
‘We’re going to have to play a lot better in the final two games.’