Greenock Morton 3
Ayr United 1
League (Championship)


Morton 

3 - 1

Ayr United


League (Championship)
Saturday, August 5th, 2023
Cappielow
Attendance: 2,512


Goalscorers
Crawford (62'minutes),
Muirhead (75'minutes pen),
Boyd (87'minutes)
Oliver Pendlebury (51)

Team Managers
Dougie Imrie Lee Bullen

Starting Eleven
30 MacDonald
17 McGrattan
4 O'Connor
15 Broadfoot
6 Waters
14 Crawford
21 Gillespie
10 Quitongo
9 Muirhead
7 Boyd
22 Oakley
Charlie Albinson .1
Frankie Musonda .4
Sean McGinty .5
Patrick Reading .3
Andy Murdoch .6
Ben Dempsey .8
Jamie Murphy .15
Mark McKenzie .22
Nick McAllister .17
Franny Amartey .17
Fraser Bryden .30

Bench
19 Bearne
20 Power
25 King
Robbie Mutch .31
Elicha Ahui .38
Finn Ecrepont .21
Oliver Pendlebury .16
Aiden McGeady .10
Ahkeem Rose .9
Paul Smith .18

Substitutions
None. Oliver Pendlebury for Andy Murdoch (40)
Elicha Ahui for Nick McAllister (45)
Ahkeem Rose for Franny Amartey (70)
Aiden McGeady for Fraser Bryden (70)
Ahkeem Rose for Mark McKenzie (81)

Cautions
None. Nick McAllister
Andy Murdoch
Sean McGinty
Frankie Musonda
Elicha Ahui

Red Cards
None. None.

Match Officials

Matthew MacDermid (Referee)





Photography by Dave Sargent

Match Report


Morton came from behind to open their Scottish Championship campaign with victory at home to Ayr United.

Ayr took the lead when Oliver Pendlebury side-footed Jamie Murphy's centre into the bottom corner.

But the tireless Robbie Crawford equalised with a lovely curling shot into the top corner before Robbie Muirhead added a second from the spot.

Jack Bearne set up Steven Boyd for a deft finish to put the icing on the cake for the Greenock men.

Dougie Imrie's first-team squad of 17 is stretched as it is without injuries and suspensions to some key players, which meant they could only name three players on the bench.

But despite going behind, and driven on by the engine of Crawford, Morton had the character to roar back.

George Oakley did well to draw a foul from Sean McGinty which gave the hosts the penalty in between the Crawford and Boyd strikes.

Morton manager Dougie Imrie: "It was important to get off to a good start against a team we only picked up two points from four games last season.

"I'm so happy to have Robbie Crawford here and his energy levels are fantastic - he drives the team forward."

Ayr manager Lee Bullen: "We got what we deserved. Morton were the better team. They were more physically up for the battle than we were.

"That's maybe the wake up call we needed. It's a shame it's come on the first day of the season."

Match report written by BBC



Squad Statistics (as at August 5th, 2023)


2023-24 All Time
Age
Charlie Albinson (GK)26 3 - 54 -
Frankie Musonda25 1 - 312
Patrick Reading24 5 - 1163
Sean McGinty29 5 - 824
Andy Murdoch28 4 - 1546
Nick McAllister22 31492
Mark McKenzie22 5111910
Jamie Murphy33 5151
Ben Dempsey23 51589
Fraser Bryden19 53376
Franny Amartey24 5 - 5 -
Oliver Pendlebury (sub) - 3232
Elicha Ahui (sub)19 1 - 1 -
Aiden McGeady (sub)37 1 - 1 -
Ahkeem Rose (sub)24 3131
Ahkeem Rose (sub)24 3131






League Table (as at August 5th, 2023)


Pld W D L Pts
1. Dundee United 1 1 0 0 3
2. Morton 1 1 0 0 3
3. Dunfermline Athletic 1 1 0 0 3
4. Queen's Park 1 1 0 0 3
5. Partick Thistle 1 0 1 0 1
6. Raith Rovers 1 0 1 0 1
7. Airdrieonians 1 0 0 1 0
8. ICT 1 0 0 1 0
9. Ayr United 1 0 0 1 0
10. Arbroath 1 0 0 1 0