THAT no situation is ever entirely hopeless was laid bare the last time Morton and Rangers faced each other in league action. It was April 1988 and Morton were on their way to being relegated from the top division, never to return.
They had already lost 7-0 and 5-0 at Ibrox earlier that season, and been walloped 3-0 at Cappielow. Facing them was a Rangers team managed by Graeme Souness, and containing players of the calibre of Ally McCoist, Ray Wilkins, Ian Durrant, and Mark Walters. There could only be one outcome. Morton won the game 3-2. It remains their only league win at home against Rangers in the best part of a century.
That it was only one of three league victories they fashioned all season only added to the sense of shock and gave further power to the cliché that even the most unlikely outcome can be reached whenever two teams, no matter how mismatched, line up for a game of football. “There weren’t many highlights that season but that was certainly one of them,” recalled Davie Wylie, Morton’s goalkeeper that day and now to be found coaching the club’s current crop of goalkeepers. “I still remember Derek Collins’ goal when he beat Chris Woods with an absolute cracker from about 30 yards, and then us spending the end of the game getting absolutely battered by Rangers but holding out for the win. It was wave after wave in the closing stages. They had given us a few doings earlier in the year but it wasn’t about revenge or anything like that. It was just about going out and enjoying your football and making the most of the occasion.”
The gulf will not be so great this afternoon when the teams resume league combat after a 27-year absence, but Rangers will again be strongly favoured to continue their flawless start to their promotion push. Morton, with a team assembled at a fraction of the cost, will be bolstered by their midweek League Cup win over Motherwell but not fancied by many to be the first team to take league points off Rangers this term. Wylie, though, remains philosophical.
“Whenever you play against a team like Rangers you have to try to enjoy it and not get caught up in worrying too much about what’s going to happen,” he added. “It’s been a while since the two teams have played in the league so if you’re out there representing Morton, just try to soak it in. You want to win, of course, but there’s no use being too nervous about it. It’s just a game of football after all. It’s not life or death. Just enjoy it. There’s a great team spirit and a terrific manager in Jim Duffy. He is a very shrewd guy and he’s been around the game a lot. He’s got them playing good football, too, so they just have to go out and show that against Rangers if they can. It will be a full house, and a great atmosphere, so let’s hope they make the most of it.”
The Morton goalkeeper, likely to be Derek Gaston with former Murray Park trainee Grant Adam on the bench, could well be the busiest person on the park given Rangers’ prolific goalscoring league form. Again, though, Wylie was not overly perturbed.
“We’ve got a group of good goalkeepers and we’ve been working even harder with them now we’ve stepped up to the Championship,” he said. “And it’s had a good effect as both of them have been playing well whenever called upon. Whoever plays in goal could be busy but the defence has been playing well. Hopefully, it can be a combined effort to shut Rangers out.”
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