THE injuries are piling up along with the missed chances as Queen's Park confined Morton to back-to-back defeats after leaving Cappielow with a 1-0 win.

Zak Rudden's first half volley aganinst the run of play was all that separated the two sides on a tough night at Cappielow as the Greenock men were left to wonder, again, just what could've been had they been a bit more clinical in the opening 45 minutes against Callum Davidson's side.

Boss Dougie Imrie had been given a further blow in the short turnaround in the build up to his clash against the Spiders.

Makeshift full-back Alexander King, who'd started the last two games, dropped out of the squad all together after rolling his ankle against Hamilton Accies.

It was a sore one for Imrie who was beginning to feel the pinch injury-wise after naming just four subs on his bench.

Morton(4-2-3-1) Budinauckas, Blues(Gillespie,46), Baird, Broadfoot, Delaney, Wilson, Lyall(O'Boy, 81), Garrity(Samuels,64), McGinn, Moffat(O'Boy,81), Stuparevic

Subs not used:

Bookings: Blues(17) Broadfoot(66) Baird(68) Delaney(73) Wilson(74)

Sent off: Wilson(90)

Scorers:

Queen's Park(4-4-2) Ferrie, Kerr, Tizzard, Murray, Fieldson, McGregor(Scott,87), Turner(Thomson,61), Welsh, Duncan(Drozd,61), McLeish(Longridge, 55), Rudden

Subs not used: Willis, Mauchlin, Hinds, Evans, Hickey-Fugaccia

Bookings: Murray(68) MacGregor(85)

Scorers: Rudden(25) Drozd(73)

ATT: 1741

Ref: Duncan Williams

 

But in a huge boost the Ton chief was delighted to welcome trusted No.2 Andy Millen back alongside him in the Cappielow dugout.

And Morton nearly got their noses in front inside nine minutes. Michael Garrity's eye-of-the-needle pass matched Lyall's run in behind and he was unfortunate to curl wide. 

In a fast start by the Greenock men, by two Owen Moffat efforts that saw Ferrie breathe a sigh of relief as Queen's concentrated on surviving an early onslaught.

But he'd have to be at his best to keep Garrity's first time snapshot out with 20 minutes gone after a great run by Lyall down the left saw him pick out the forward on the penalty spot.

However, much like the story of Morton's season so far, missed chances came back to haunt Imrie'sas Zak Rudden fired the visitors in front against the run of play midway through the half.

He met Cammy Kerr's cross to volley beyond Lewis Budinauckas first time to suck the life out of a previously buoyant Cappielow.

Ton should've gone into the interval on level terms but for some brilliant last ditch defending from Spiders centre half Will Tizzard.

A quick break saw Morton have numbers on the edge of the box, with Lyall the final destination, but his curler from 15 yards was brilliantly deflected over by the Celtic kid.

Ton would continue to push after the break without much to show for it as Queen's looked to navigate their way to a second consecutive 1-0 win against Imrie's side.

There was a flash point midway through the half when Jack Baird and Dane Murray looked to get to know each other a little better, but after a word from whistler Duncan Williams, a yellow card went to the pair.

Imrie's misery, though, would be confounded in the closing seconds when the usually reliable Iain Wilson was sent for an early bath, his off-the-ball altercation with Rudden leaving the whistler with no choice but to dish out a second booking and a resulting red as Ton slumped to eighth in the Championship table.