NO-NONSENSE Morton defender Cammy Ballantyne knows what it’s like to take on the Championship following promotion play-off success – and that’s why he says the Cappielow side must be on their A-game when Hamilton come to Greenock this weekend.
Ballantyne has had varied success against John Rankin’s men in recent years, helping Airdrie beat the New Douglas Park side to make the step up to the Championship in 2023 and going on to play a key role as the Diamonds finished fourth in their first season back in Scotland’s second tier.
But the 27-year-old says that Accies are a totally different beast to the one he faced up against two seasons ago, and he warned his teammates that they’ll have to be at their best if they’re to back up their opening day point against Partick with a win.
He told the Tele: “I’ve had some successes against Hamilton in recent years, notably the play-off final to get Airdrie into the Championship – but they’re a totally different team now.
“Their tails are up from obviously getting promoted last season and they’ll want to lay down a marker on the league and make an impression."
Accies made the step up from League 1 thanks to play-off victories over Inverness and Alloa after finishing second to champions Falkirk.
They made a false start to their Championship campaign with an opening-day defeat at home to Ayr United, but Ballantyne isn't expecting that result to have any bearing on this weekend's clash.
He added: “From experience with Airdrie, coming up through the play-offs means that you’re just trying to carry that momentum through from the season before. You were winning most games to earn promotion and you’re on a high.
“You take that into the league and play with no fear, which is what Hamilton will be doing this season. They’ll be expecting to come here and win.
“So that means that it’s up to us to show up and perform well, like we did against Partick, and if we can then we’ll give ourselves a chance.
“If we can back up last week’s point with a win this weekend, we’ll be laughing. You want to win every home game no matter who comes here to Cappielow.
“You want to make your home stadium as formidable as possible and win as many games as possible.
"We know that every game in this league will be decided by the flip of a coin, with everyone being as good as one another. But you’ve got to take advantage of your home games.
“We’ve had a good pre-season at home along with the two league cup ties too, we want to continue that vein of form here this weekend.”
The hard hitting full-back is pleased that his side have got something to build from coming away from their opening day trip to Firhill.
The former Airdrie man says that not many sides will find themselves in similar positions this season and he reckons that Ton spoiled an early season Firhill party as they silenced a few doubters.
He added: “It was a good result. Not many teams will go to Partick and pick up points throughout the season. Sections of the media had backed them to go all the way which meant that people were coming into the game thinking they’d maybe run away with it.
“We spoiled their party. There’s still plenty of things that we could’ve done better, but there’s plenty of positives to build from.
“You don’t read into things too much – you’re motivated for every game. But you do hear the noise surrounding them, they are one of the favourites for the league and rightly so, but we’ve signed well too.
"It was good to put a performance in.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here