TAM O'Ware, the Morton defender, believes a fortnight's rest is a mixed blessing as they seek to rubber stamp their place in the Promotion play-offs. The Greenock side left Tannadice with another priceless point on Saturday - it might have been three were it not for a lucky late equaliser when a clearance from Lee Kilday, who had earlier nodded in Morton's opener, deflected in off Mark Durnan - but with next week's scheduled meeting with Hibs postponed due to the Scottish Cup quarter finals, they are not back in action until the following Saturday evening's televised encounter with Queen of the South at Cappielow. While disrupting the rhythm of a run which has seen them lose just one of their last ten league matches, the lay-off will allow further time to help nurse the club's injured players like Gary Oliver back to health for the promotion push. United too aren't back in action until that weekend, as they face leaders Hibs at Tannadice in a match they will surely have to win to maintain their hopes of winning the championship title.
"We've not been told the training schedule yet," said O'Ware. "But the next game is Queen of the South so that's a weekend off and then a full week of training before the next game. We are on a good run of form so we don't really want a break but we've a few injuries just now so it will give the boys a couple of weeks to recover. Gary has been running a week bit so hopefully he will be close to being back."
As agonising as the late equaliser was, O'Ware feels Morton have put a marker down in the event that these two sides meet up again in the play-offs. It took a 90th minute Tony Andreu goal to defeat them earlier in the season, the league meeting at Cappielow was a goalless draw and Morton knocked United out of the BetFred Cup. "That is twice we have been up there and twice we have have felt we were the better team if I am honest," said O'Ware. "I think it was important not to get beaten. We defended well for so long and it just frustrating that they goal we conceded was pot luck but if we said before the game that we would come away with a point I think we would have taken it."
Having beaten Hibs 1-0 at Tannadice in early December, United goalscorer Mark Durnan is relishing the Easter Road outfit's televised visit. "Hibs will be a big night," said Durnan. "I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure the fans will be as well. It will be vital for us. Hibs haven't won their last three league matches. They've drawn them. We'll have a rest next weekend with no game and then we'll make sure we're ready for it."
Makeshift striker Durnan admitted he knew little about the equaliser. "It was a wee bit fortunate, he said. "But they all count and it was a vital time for us as well as we were trying to push on. "
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel