Airdrie United 2 - 4 Morton: Flawed Diamonds quickly lose their shine

Published on Saturday 21 November 2009 19:39

Nixon 1; Baird 4 McGuffie 43; Wake 45, 54; van Zanten 66

MORTON significantly eased their relegation concerns with a thrilling victory over bottom dogs Airdrie courtesy of a comeback they will talk about with reverence for a long time down Greenock way. As a result of their Lazarus-like heroics there are now eight points separating upwardly mobile Morton from the rock bottom Diamonds and the Cappielow club should be safe if they continue as they are.

Despite the weather, and indeed sections of the playing surface, being better suited to Ian Thorpe and Johnny Weissmuller, these two strugglers put on a tremendous advertisement for the First Division. Such praise however will be scant consolation to Airdrie who went from having the game by the throat to being well beaten, piling pressure on manager Kenny Black.

If Morton were brimming with confidence following last week's 5-0 home thrashing of Raith it wasn't to last for long. Airdrie's David Nixon stabbed home after 47 seconds to punish the visitors for some ghastly defending from a short corner, and before Morton could regroup they were hit again as John Baird ran away from his marker to pick his spot.

With their opposition hard against the ropes Airdrie failed to step forward and finish them off, electing instead to sit in, a tactic which was to come back and bite them when Morton levelled matters with two rapid-fire goals on the stroke of half time. Ryan McGuffie halved the deficit with a well-placed downward header, and Brian Wake ensured interval parity with a smart turn and shot into the roof of the net.

With the momentum now going their way, Morton took only ten second half minutes to complete the turnaround, Wake again the man on target, this time with a header. David van Zanten finished the scoring with a strike from distance to grab his first goal for this new club and confirm a huge three points.