First home win and first clean sheet in 21: Morton's caretakers make it two in a row
Sunday 18 October 2026 · By Owen Blair
Earlier this month, Greenock Morton were bottom of the Championship and searching for a new manager. Now they have back-to-back wins, and Saturday's 2–0 victory over Queen's Park at Cappielow lifted them off the bottom of the table.
It was a day of firsts. According to the Greenock Telegraph, it was Morton's first home win of the season and their first clean sheet in 21 matches. For a club that has had a difficult year, those are big milestones.
Interim co-managers Gary Miller and Michael O'Halloran have been in charge since Ian Murray was sacked on 1 October. Their first game brought a 2–1 win at Arbroath, ending a run of 19 games without a victory. Saturday showed that wasn't a one-off.
"I think we showed that we can be a good team," Miller told the Greenock Telegraph. "It's really coming together well."
Morton made a good start. On 13 minutes, Matthew Shiels fouled Cammy Ballantyne in the box, and captain Grant Gillespie stepped up to score the penalty. It was the second week running he has scored from the spot.
The second goal was even better. Two minutes before half-time, Michael Garrity ran onto a pass from Kerr Robertson and hit a low drive into the net. The Telegraph called it "stunning", and it gave Morton a comfortable cushion at the break.
Keeping the clean sheet still took some work. Goalkeeper Harrison made good saves from Aidan Connolly and Michael Ruth, and the defence stayed calm when Queen's Park pushed in the second half.
There was an unusual look to the team too. The Telegraph said Morton played without a recognised striker, with Dylan Borso used as a makeshift forward. It's not clear whether that was a tactical choice or a result of injuries, but it worked on the day.
There was a family story too. Queen's Park's Louis Longridge reached 500 career appearances, and he did it against his brother's Morton side.
The win moves Morton up to ninth on seven points, level with Queen's Park but ahead on goal difference. Morton's goal difference is minus nine, compared with minus 12 for the Spiders. Ninth still means a relegation play-off, but the gap to Arbroath in eighth is now four points.
That's a big shift from where Morton were at the start of the month. Two wins have changed the mood completely.
It also raises an obvious question. Do Miller and O'Halloran deserve the job on a permanent basis? Six points from two games is a strong case, and it will be interesting to see how the club responds.
The next test comes on Saturday 24 October, when Ayr United visit Cappielow. Ayr are seventh and will arrive frustrated after Friday night's defeat to Partick. Morton then travel to Partick Thistle on Saturday 31 October, which will be much tougher.
For now, though, it's a good time to be a Morton supporter. A first home win, a first clean sheet in 21 games and a move off the bottom. The caretakers have done everything that could have been asked of them.
Plan looking north. Pitch about 110 by 71 yards. Goals are at the ends: the western goal faces the Wee Dublin End, the eastern goal faces Sinclair Street. Gold dashes mark the usual away areas, towards the Dublin End. Not a ticket plan.
Cappielow Park has been Greenock Morton’s home since 1879, squeezed between the River Clyde and the Inverclyde railway in the east end of Greenock. Visiting supporters get a tight, weathered ground that gets noisy when the Ton are in the mood. Capacity is 11,589, with 5,741 seats. Morton play in royal blue and white hoops.
Most away tickets are for the Main Stand, sometimes called the Grandstand, on the south side of the pitch, in the blocks towards the Wee Dublin End. It is a single tier, opened in 1931. The view is fine once you are settled, but a row of roof pillars can take a slice out of the pitch, and legroom is tight, so taller fans should aim for an aisle. For some matches the club also opens a share of the Cowshed, across the pitch, including part of the terrace behind the seats. That is not fixed. On larger games the Wee Dublin End itself can be turned over to away supporters. Read the ticket, because the allocation does move.
The pitch runs east to west, about 110 yards by 71, and the goals sit in front of the two ends, not the side stands. The western goal is directly in front of the Wee Dublin End, a former terrace with white benches bolted on and no roof. The name recalls the Irish families who once lived behind it. It is often closed for ordinary league games, and a shipyard crane still shows beyond it. The eastern goal faces the Sinclair Street End, a narrow uncovered home terrace along Sinclair Street, with a small clock behind the wall. Home supporters fill that end and most of the Cowshed.
The Cowshed, on the north side towards East Hamilton Street and the Clyde, has seats at the front and open terracing under the same roof at the back. The railway runs immediately behind the Main Stand, so a train can rattle past a corner. Floodlights sit on the Main Stand roof, with modern pylons at the Cowshed corners. Both ends are open to the weather, and the wind off the river finds every gap, so bring a coat.
Cartsdyke station, on the Glasgow Central to Gourock line, is about a five-minute walk, and the train from Glasgow takes around 40 minutes. Not every service stops there, so check before you board. Coming from Glasgow, leave the platform, go under the railway bridge, walk to the end of the road and turn right; the ground is on the right. By road, take the M8 and then the A8 into Greenock. Cappielow is on the left just after the bridge, with Piccolo’s chip shop on the corner. A small car park opposite the main entrance usually charges a few pounds, and there is street parking nearby, including behind the Wee Dublin End.
The Norseman, on Sinclair Street, is the matchday pub used by both sets of supporters and fills quickly. For a quieter pint beforehand, the James Watt Wetherspoon sits nearer Greenock Central. Inside the ground the food is simple: a pie and a Bovril will see you through. Stewards are generally chatty. If you are under the Main Stand, the pillars are the main grumble; if you are on the Cowshed terrace, you are closer to the singing and the weather. Either way, Cappielow is worth the trip down the river.