Morton v Bo’ness United – Match Preview  

by Russell Gordon.

Having ended their interest in the SPFL Trust Trophy in unfortunate circumstances against Airdrieonians last weekend, Morton’s focus now moves onto preventing 101 years of hurt becoming 102 years as our Scottish Gas Scottish Cup campaign begins with the visit of Lowland League Bo’ness United to Cappielow Park supported by Dalrada Technology for the first ever meeting of the two sides. 

With season tickets not being valid for the match, tickets are available from Fanbase at the link below: 

Fanbase | Dashboard (fanbaseclub.com) 

Photo - GBR Photographs.

Squad News 

Whisper it, but there may well be some light at the end of the tunnel. At the time of writing, there’s been no news of additional injuries since the visit of Airdrie, while it was an extremely welcome surprise to see Jai Quitongo and Darragh O’Connor finally get some minutes in their legs after their lengthy layoffs. 

Calum Waters is of course another long-term casualty who will certainly miss out, but Steven Boyd will return having sat out the Airdrie match through suspension, and Alan Power could be closer to a return. 

Ryan Mullen may well continue in goal after a sterling performance at the weekend, and Robbie Muirhead will be available in spite of his late ordering off, with his suspension carrying onto next season’s SPFL Trust Trophy campaign. 

Current Connections 

We’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel here- there may well be others, but the only one I can find is right back Jamie McCormack, a member of Kenny Shiels’ notorious 2014 side who were relegated in shame after the season from hell. 

McCormack played ten times in that side before moving onto Brechin City the following season and subsequently Stenhousemuir, East Stirling and Broomhill before joining up with Bo’ness in 2021 and staying at Newton Park for a couple of seasons before moving onto fellow Lowland League side, our old friends Berwick Rangers in the summer. 

Tale of the Tape 

Whilst Bo’ness United were only formed in 1945 and have never met Morton, we have previously played the now defunct Bo’ness in league and cup, posting some positive results in the process. 

Morton kicked off their Scottish Cup campaign in January 1901 with a resounding 10-0 Cappielow victory, but had to wait until 1928 before visiting Bo’ness. In the old Division Two, Bo’ness held the ‘Ton to a credible 2-2 draw at home but didn’t have too much to celebrate in the return fixture as they fell to a 4-0 defeat at Cappielow. 

The final meeting of the clubs again came in the Scottish Cup First Round, and Morton registered another resounding victory, 9-0 at Cappielow. I don’t think too many would complain were we to register a similar victory to those at the weekend! 

However, against Lowland League opposition, Morton’s record isn’t quite so glowing. We’ve met sides from the division three times in competitive action since it was formed in 2013, with mixed results.

In July 2014, a freshly relegated Morton sneaked through a First Round Challenge Cup tie against Spartans, thanks to a Cameron O’Neill goal on the cusp of half time. There weren’t too many who were delighted with that result and performance, but they’d have taken it when we played Spartans at Ainslie Park only a few months later and fell to a shock 1-2 reverse at the hands of our fifth tier opponents. Under normal circumstances perhaps the worst result in Morton’s history, but in reality, it wasn’t even our worst result of the calendar year. 

Morton’s only other game against Lowland League opponents was in the dark days of the 2021 as we were just coming out of COVID, when East Kilbride visited and held a depleted Morton side to a 0-0 League Cup Group Stage draw before Morton took an utterly useless bonus point that did nothing for their progression hopes, having already forfeited their previous game against Stranraer due to a COVID outbreak in the squad. 

Photo - GBR Photographs.

Opposition Analysis  

Three times Scottish Junior Cup winners in the days when the juniors were the more traditional format of Scottish non-league football, Bo’ness were part of the mass migration to the East of Scotland League in 2018, winning promotion to the Lowland League in 2019-20 season, and being joined this summer by local rivals Linlithgow Rose. 

The B.U’s are currently sitting in fourth place in the Lowland League, although with only the champions even having a chance of promotion and with big-spending East Kilbride sweeping all before them in the league, any dreams of SPFL football will be on the backburner for at least another season. 

It was our visitors though who came storming out the traps by winning their first five league games to set an early pace, only to hit the skids in dramatic fashion, by losing their next three. Results have been slightly more consistent since then with five wins, a draw with Hearts B and defeats to only Stirling University and Mick Kennedy’s champions-elect, East Kilbride. 

Their last two victories, 4-2 at home and 4-3 away to former league clubs Cowdenbeath and East Stirling respectively, would suggest that whilst they know their way to goal, there are certainly gaps left at the back 

The Scottish Cup campaign has seen them twice win without conceding, however. It was Kennedy’s old club, last season’s shock troops, Darvel who were their first victims as they were ruthlessly brushed aside 3-0 at Newton Park- a result that saw the Ayrshire side forced into some pretty drastic cost-cutting measures following an exit they perhaps didn’t anticipate. 

With Morton in action the previous evening, I took the opportunity to see their 1-0 Second Round victory over East of Scotland Premier Division strugglers Luncarty, and felt Bo’ness produced a professional performance without giving anyone of a Morton persuasion too much to fear against opponents I expected them to take care of more comfortably. 

It took a late Tom Grant goal to finally settle an affair that Bo’ness had the better of, but had to thank their keeper, the commanding Spaniard Musa Dibaga for snuffing out a spirited Luncarty side and take Stuart Hunter’s side through to this weekend’s Cappielow test. 

What’s Happening Elsewhere? 

The weekend kicks off with yet another Fife derby as BBC Scotland chose the least imaginative of fixtures to show as Dunfermline host their cousins from up the road, moneybags Raith Rovers. 

With Clyde squatting at Hamilton and the Accies at home to Kelty on Saturday, the Bully Wee must be looking at their Friday night home tie with East of Scotland Premier Division Jeanfield Swifts, who spanked Clyde’s fellow League Two strugglers Elgin 6-0, with a degree of trepidation. 

Now non-league Albion Rovers welcome Bonnyrigg to Cliftonhill, whist Annan will be looking for a repeat of their resounding play-off victory over Dumbarton, and Alloa will have to be on their toes against a Dunbar United side who took care of East Fife last time around. 

There are three all non-league ties, with Pollok making the long journey to Brora Rangers, Broxburn hosting Buckie Thistle and Broomhill making the trip to Cumnock. 

Best of luck to Formartine for their visit to Grangemouth, and to Tranent against Raymond McKinnon’s Forfar. 

Arbroath, Ayr, Dundee United and Airdrie all travel to lower league opposition in the shape of Spartans, Peterhead, Queen of the South and Stranraer respectively, in ties all will expect to negotiate, while there’s another all-Championship derby at Firhill, as Queen’s Park visit Partick. 

Completing the card are a couple of all-League One fixtures, with Montrose hosting Edinburgh City and Cove visiting Stirling Albion. 

Photo - GBR Photographs.

Betting Guide  

All odds are supplied by McBookie. All odds correct as of 7am on 24th November 2023 and are subject to change. Please only bet within your means and visit BeGambleAware if you are struggling.  

It’s not often we say it, but Morton are clear favourites to win the match at 2/9, with Bo’ness priced at 9/1 and the draw at 19/4. 

Match Officials  

Referee- Craig Napier 

AR 1- Alan Mulvanny 

AR 2- Ross Anderson