Match Report - By John Hoey

Brechin City went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat at Morton in their second competitive fixture of the season.

The only goal of the game came after 57 minutes when former Montrose full-back Cammy Ballantyne was on hand to fire home from close-range to give his side a deserved victory. Having said that, City battled hard throughout the ninety minutes and manager Patrick Cregg although no doubt disappointed with his side’s defeat will be pleased with the effort and commitment shown by his players

City started the match with Lenny Wilson in goal and a back four of Lewis Martin, Euan Spark, Brad McKay and Michael Cruickshank with Fraser Macleod, Seth Patrick, Spencer Moreland and Kevin McHattie in midfield and Marc Scott partnering Dayle Robertson up front.

Morton dominated the opening 45 minutes in terms of pressure and possession and they should have opened the scoring after 19 minutes when Ballantyne delivered a cross into the City box for Jordan Davies who headed wide with the goal at his mercy.

Michael Garrity then drilled a low drive just wide of Lenny Wilson’s left-hand post after 33 minutes and eight minutes later Zac Delaney fired in a drive from an almost identical position which was only inches wide of the target.

City hadn’t shown much in an attacking sense but they almost scored the opener a couple of minutes before the interval when Morton keeper Ryan Mullen failed to gather a loose ball at the feet of Marc Scott with the City striker steering a low shot wide of the post. Minutes later, City’s Dayle Robertson and Seth Patrick along with Morton’s Jack Baird were booked by referee Euan Anderson following a scuffle.

City made a couple of changes early in the second-half with Anthony McDonald and Craig Tosh replacing Kevin McHattie and Spencer Moreland as the hosts continued to put pressure on the visitors defence and that pressure eventually paid off after 57 minutes. The City defence failed to clear their lines following a Cameron Blues corner with CAMMY BALLANTYNE on the spot to knock the ball past Wilson from around five yards.

The hosts continued to press in search of further goals with the City defence working hard to keep them at bay with Delaney firing high over the bar on the hour mark and Owen Moffat scorning another decent opportunity eleven minutes later.

City then made a further substitution after 78 minutes when Scott Logan replaced Fraser MacLeod and with seven minutes remaining Ryan Ferguson was sent on for Robertson with Sean Hastie replacing Cruickshank shortly afterwards.

The Greenock men continued to enjoy the vast majority of possession and pressure as the minutes ticked away with Jack Bearne (twice) and Davies missing decent opportunities.