AFTER progressing to the last eight of the SPFL Trust Trophy in what was described as Morton’s most accomplished performance of the season, Dougie Imrie will be looking to carry on our recent good form as we visit a struggling Dunfermline team at East End Park.
It’s fair to say that things are beginning to look up for the Morton boss, who must be beginning to feel vindicated after some of the comments directed towards him by the away support during the narrow defeat at Queen’s Park last month, when our season hit what will hopefully be its nadir.
the Serb’s majestic header against Dunfermline’s Fife rivals Raith Rovers was straight out of the top drawer, whilst his penalty winner at New Douglas Park was converted with aplomb.
And with the more recent addition to the squad of former Inverness frontman Austin Samuels, Imrie’s attacking options look a lot more credible than they did when the season kicked off.
After a slow start to last Friday’s match, in which their hosts pressed Morton into a couple of early mistakes before spurning their opportunities, the visitors took the match by the scruff of the neck.
Stuparevic’s 17th minute spot kick would be all that separated the sides, but Morton didn’t really look in any danger of conceding, for the third time in recent weeks.
Less of a positive was a tough quarter final draw against Livingston, probably the strongest side left in the competition - though Morton have already collected a point from a visit to Almondvale earlier in the season, and with Ton looking in better shape than in August, there’s no reason they can’t negotiate that tie.
Imrie will now hope to take the impressive displays in Morton's last couple of games into their away league form, with Morton having failed to win on the road so far in the Championship and facing two away games on the bounce - at the Pars on Saturday, and a return trip to Hamilton in eight days' time.
A win in Fife tomorrow would go a long way to creating a buffer between Morton those struggling at the foot of the table even at this early stage of the campaign. But they will be facing a team that will see the visit of the Cappielow men as an opportunity to put points on the board.
The Pars have taken nine out of the the last 12 available from last season’s meetings, despite Morton recording a resounding 5-0 victory on their February visit to the Kingdom.
With their German owners having publicly stated their intentions to sell up and move on, and no obvious signs of a prospective buyer, it’s difficult to see where Dunfermline’s short-term future lies.
McPake is understandably under pressure from the support, but it doesn’t really make sense for the current incumbents to sack a manager and pay up his contract when they’ve got no real desire to be at the club in the long term.
That may, of course, change if the Pars find themselves under serious threat of the drop later in the season, making them a tougher sell, but it could be seen as safe to assume the Pars boss will remain in place for the foreseeable future.
Dunfermline’s woes, however, are of no concern to Morton, and Imrie’s men will be looking to continue their good from by making the Pars’ position just a little bit more perilous by 5pm tomorrow.
With the other teams round about the bottom end of the table facing those looking up rather than down, a win would likely be as important for Morton’s pursuit of the promotion play-offs as it would be in steering them further clear of those at the table’s foot.
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