Brechin City - Morton Match Preview

Brechin City will go into tomorrow afternoon's match against Morton determined to bounce back from the disappointment of two straight league defeats at the hands of Ayr United and Forfar Athletic.

City have the chance to draw level in the League One table with Morton if they record a victory and the players will be going all out to achieve that and pick up three valuable league points.

Manager Ray McKinnon has no injury worries apart from Callum Tapping who recently underwent a scan to assess the extent of his injury while midfielder Greg Cameron returns to the squad after his one-match suspension. Kyle McAusland who signed a three-month loan deal last Friday appears poised to make his home debut at some stage of the match.

Despite the disappointment of the last two results Ray took a number of positives from those matches.

" We've created chances in all of our games this season but we must endeavour to be more clinical in our finishing and to be solid in defence as lapses against both Ayr and Forfar cost us dearly," he said.

" We've had a good week in training and the boys are all looking forward to tomorrow's game."

Morton manager Jim Duffy returns to Glebe Park for the second time since giving up the managerial reigns in May 2010. His previous visit was on 30th July the following year when his Clyde team triumphed by 4-2 in the first round of the Scottish League Cup. Jim has no injury concerns or suspensions and he will be looking for a positive response from his players after their 2-1 loss at Stenhousemuir last weekend.

Head To Head

The clubs have met in league duty on 61 occasions with the following outcomes :-

Brechin City Wins - 14
Morton Wins - 38
Draws - 9

Last Meeting Between The Sides

Brechin City 0 Greenock Morton 1 on 3rd April 2007

A third minute goal from former Forfar defender Stewart Greacen was all that separated the sides in a closely-fought encounter at Glebe Park with coach Grant Johnson and physio Richard Walker both involved that day, Grant playing for the full ninety minutes, and Richard coming on for Stuart Callaghan four minutes before full-time.

The City side on that occasion was :- Nelson, Murie, Callaghan (R. Walker, 86), Ward, S. Walker, Ferguson (Byers, 46), Johnson, King (Connolly 73), Hampshire, Russell, Smith.
Subs Not Used - White, Hillcoat (GK). Attendance - 776

Brechin City's Last Game

Forfar Athletic. 3 (Denholm 12, Hilson 34, Hilson. (pen) 81
Brechin City 1 (Hamilton, 44)
on 27th September 2014

Morton's Last Game

Stenhousemuir 2 (Grehan 32, Dickson 48)
Morton 1 (McManus 31)
on 27th September 2014

Referee

The man in the middle tomorrow is former Scotland youth goalkeeper Barry Cook.

Barry won 27 caps for his country before deciding to hang up his boots and concentrate on becoming a referee and he was promoted to the Grade 1 category in June 2011.

Barry hasn't been in charge of any City games this season but he officiated at a couple of City's games last season, the 3-1 victory over Arbroath at the Glebe on 26th October 2013 when he produced eight yellow cards and the 3-1 home defeat from Stranraer on 22nd February the following year when one red card and six yellow cards were produced.

Ball Sponsor - Guthrie Bros, Montrose.

Mascots - Brother and sister Kian (8) and Cerys (5) Turriff. Both Kian and Cerys are pupils of Rosemount Primary School in Hillside and are great-grandchildren of long-time City supporter Jim Turriff.