Hostile takeover

Sunday Herald, The, Sep 8, 2002 by Stewart Fisher at Cappielow

Morton 2 St Mirren 3 WHEN St Mirren chairman Stewart Gilmour sits down with his former manager this Tuesday to work out the details of Tom Hendrie's compensation package, this result should at least break the tension a little.

Hendrie wasn't actually at Cappielow for this fraught CIS Cup first-round tie yesterday, and Gilmour was also keeping his counsel, but the departure of the former schoolteacher still managed to make its presence felt on proceedings. The chant "There's only one Tom Hendrie." was predictably stolen by the home support but, by the end of extra time, their crowing had been well and truly silenced.

Hendrie had phoned John Coughlin, his assistant and close friend, in the morning to wish him the best of luck. "He [Hendrie] said that he wasn't happy with the way things had happened, but he said he was going to try and come down and support the team. It was a great gesture. It has been a hell of a week. I have had a long relationship with Tom and it came as a big surprise."

At half-time, staring down the barrel of a two-goal deficit to their deadliest rivals, the jovial front runner to replace Hendrie just felt like running away.

But after his side's eventual victory by virtue of a mazy Mark Yardley run and finish just five minutes before the lottery of penalties, he was entitled to reflect that his side's luck - which had been much bemoaned by Hendrie - had finally turned. He could also reflect that the result did his chances of pipping the other five shadowy names on the shortlist to become manager had swelled in the process.

"I would like to think so," Coughlin said. "It is certainly not going to hurt me any. I know there are other candidates there - even though I don't know who they are. But I would certainly like to work with these players on a more permanent basis."

The football writers' favourite analogy of two punch drunk prizefighters slugging it out was apposite for this Renfrew-shire derby. Both teams finished the 30 minutes of extra time with 10 men, with Marco Maisano throwing away the home side's one-man advantage that was given to them by the dismissal of Brian McGinty for two bookings.

For Morton manager Dave McPherson, who could have had the game sealed if Alex Williams had given them a third when they were 2-0 up, there was little consolation, even if the team from the middle of the third division more than matched the one from the middle of the first for much of the match.

There was also the fact that his side will learn from the exper- ience. "We've come a long way and we have a lot of young boys, playing against First Division players and we did really well."

His team had been unsettled by the forced substitution due to an ankle injury of David Hopkin, whose return to his hometown team after spells at Leeds, Crystal Palace and Bradford was finally confirmed before deadline day. For in that first half, with an albeit ring- rusty Hopkin offering his physical presence, Morton had ruled the midfield, and the match. Martin Cameron, when put clean through by Andy Dow, could have given the visitors a 17th minute lead, but Morton showed no such profligacy just minutes later.

Maisano rolled a simple short pass from a quickly-taken free-kick to Scott Bannerman, and the former Hibs player struck a shot from 25 yards which flew over Kris Robertson but dipped just underneath the bar.

The mood of the St Mirren camp drooped still further when the second goal went in 10 minutes later. Derek Collins cut in on to his weaker left foot and swung over a cross, which eluded the pocket of jostling players in the middle, to where Hopkin had found a niche at the back post.

He caressed a left-foot finish past Robertson and into the bottom corner.

There had been little fight apparent from St Mirren during their 4- 0 home league defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle last week, but here they emerged from the half-time interval inspired, even despite the substitution of captain Greig Denham for youngster Ross Robb. And whatever else Hendrie managed to achieve in his time at the club, St Mirren's players certainly showed superior fitness to their part- time rivals.

Firstly, Hugh Murray sneaked to the byline to deliver a cross that the off-colour Cameron neatly managed to angle past Craig Coyle. The ball seemed to take an eternity to cross the line, but it did. Then came Simon Lappin's crowning moment. The left-sided youngster was given the sponsor's man-of-the-match award for his efforts on the flank, and Morton should surely have noticed him sneaking on to the ball after McGinty's simple lay-back from a Murray free-kick. But they didn't. The youngster strode on to toe-poke the equaliser past Coyle.

St Mirren's momentum then stalled as McGinty saw red for a second bad challenge, even though Eddie Mack appeared to mistake the tackler for Chris Kerr, and there were even more question marks about the decision that levelled the sides at 10 men apiece. With just six minutes left of extra time, Maisano challenged for the ball with Lappin. Kerr gesticulated that an elbow had been used and the linesman apparently saw enough to see the Australian sent off.