MJC

GA’s stubbornness is very apparent here by persevering with Donnelly in midfield. As I type, Tierney on and Shields off. Baffling!

Donnelly starting ahead of Slattery is madness. He’ll need to pull another worldy out of the box tonight to justify that decision IMO.

Donnelly starts again, as does KvV and Roberts. Tierney on the bench.

I fancy us to nick this one. 1-0 with van Veen getting the winner.

I notice that we are due to play Aberdeen in the League the week after the Cup tie. That always seems to happen when we play Aberdeen in the Cup, it ends up a double header. Whenever that’s happened in the past, it’s been one win each. If that trend is to continue here then I’ll gladly take a Cup win as opposed to three points in the league.

Yes, that was the same season (17/18), the round after we beat Aberdeen at Fir Park. My point was that outwith that season and the LC16 tie against Livi the following season our record in Cup ties against Premiership sides is dreadful.

That was one of the best games at Fir Park in the last decade, right up there with the playoff 2nd leg for enjoyment and overall satisfaction. The scenes when Moult buried the third were priceless. That season though was very much the exception to the rule for us against top flight sides in the Cups, as outwith that season and the LC16 tie against Livingston the following year, we have not beaten a fellow top flight side in either Cup since the 2011 SCSF against St.Johnstone.

Hopefully today acts as a wake up call to GA and the team that they cannot afford to take Cup games lightly. We got away with one big time today but we’re through and ultimately that’s all that matters. Against Aberdeen we need to have our strongest possible eleven starting the match, no two ways about it and we need to be right up for it on the day.

It should be a good crowd and I hope that the TV companies leave this one alone and it’s played at 3pm on the Saturday. But “we usually do well against them”? Not in Cup ties we don’t. I know we beat them at Hampden in the 2018 semi final but they had a habit of knocking us out of the Cup in the early 2010s when we were significantly better than them and had their number in league matches. No arguments from me about them being bang average. However as I said above, under McCall a decade ago we were unbeaten in the league against them for in seven games yet they managed to come to Fir Park and knock us out of the Scottish cup in back to back seasons - actually twice in the same calendar year so our league record against them will have no bearing on this tie. On paper yes, we are more than capable of beating them but I just do not trust us to do the business in a Scottish cup tie against them.

Okay perhaps not Aberdeen themselves as they are a very ordinary side, but maybe it would be more accurate to say that we should fear ourselves and our dismal record in Cup ties against top flight sides.

We’ll need to play considerably better than we did today if we are to get past them. We’ll also need to considerably improve our Cup performances against top flight sides as our record in that respect is diabolical. Anyone saying “nothing to fear here, this will be easy” is kidding themselves.

Stinker of a draw.

Yaaaaaaaassss THANK.FUCK!!!

That’s only going to prolong the agony I reckon. A penalty shootout loss looming here.

There you go 1-0 Morton. Game over. We can have no complaints though, we are getting exactly what we deserve.

We seem to have this attitude to Cup games in general no matter who it’s against. It’s the same with Lanarkshire derbies, we just never seem fully up for it.

Pathetic stuff. The team and the manager should be ashamed of themselves.

Well the manager has twenty minutes, possibly an extra 30, to prove he was right to go with that lineup today. So far the signs are not good, this is rotten stuff.

Not by the looks of that line up he doesn’t. It was the same with the Dundee LC tie back in August and look how that one panned out. I am sick to the back teeth of us not taking Cup ties seriously. I think we’re beat.

Just past experiences with us in Cup games. Ross County, Inverness etc. We need to get this done today. Anything, ANYTHING less than a win and progression is totally unacceptable. We are a top flight side playing at home against a lower league side, we need to win. I’not interested in the “romance of the cup” or it being an entertaining spectacle for the neutral fan or a great advert for the Scottish game. The only thing I care about is that we win today and are in the next round. So get this done Motherwell. Fuck Morton and fuck the big crane that hangs over their stadium. Get them pumped.

As he should! That was an abomination of a second half especially with the odds in our favour with them down to ten men. A defensive disaster show at one end and a stark reminder to anyone who thinks/pretends to think that losing Watt isn’t a hammer blow at the other. We cannot afford to lose our top/main goalscorer and not at least attempt to replace him. If we have any serious ambitions to finish top six or better and/or a Scottish Cup run then we will have to invest in another striker before the end of the month.

Beautiful stuff from Roberts! 1-1

I know that but I would not trust us to win a penalty shootout against any side, especially a top flight side, with Tony Watt being one of their takers or not.

I know what you mean there but you could say the same for any other top flight side were we to face them in a penalty shootout. We would lose. Our record in penalty shootouts is shocking and I believe it is the case that we have NEVER beaten a top flight side in a penalty shootout.

Given that Watt was our main goalscorer then I think we need to be looking at bringing in another striker before the window shuts and if that means spending some of the “six figure sum” we received for Watt as opposed to tying down OOC players or putting into the club coffers then so be it.