Lego Ibrox. Brickstand.
Morton visit Ibrox. When did Morton last play here? August 19th, 1995, in Round Two of the League Cup. Who won? Rangers won. When did Morton last play here in league action? January 9th, 1988. Who won? Rangers. When did Morton last win at Ibrox? November 29th, 1980, thirty-five years ago.
Though if today's game ends 0 - 0 everyone in Greenock will be pleased.
How often does Morton play to a 0 - 0 draw? They've done it twice so far this season. Looking back over the results at Fitbastats, you find that over the past few decades Morton have tended to play to nil - nil about three times a year. In 2010-11 there were six scoreless draws, a club record. In 2012-13 there were none. But before 1970-71 the average was about once per year. There were only four seasons in which Morton had more than three scoreless draws. From 1970-71 to today there have been sixteen. Since 1970-71 there has been only that one season without any 0 - 0 games. Before 1970-71 there were thirty-one. Something happened about 45 years ago to make scoreless games more common, but what?
Morton's two rivals for the final playoff spot -- Queen of the South and Raith Rovers -- played each other last night, and settled for a 1 - 1 score. This is an ideal result from Morton's point of view because the third point evaporates.
A few years ago I wrote about the First Division's ghost team, Third Lanark, who collect the third points from draw games. Where are they in the standings today? Between sixth-place QoS and seventh-place Dumbarton, with 15 points and, by definition, a 0 gd.
There'll be a new Scottish League Cup format [the year after] next year, with a group stage in July, plus a winter break for the Premiership. First I've heard of it, says Ann Budge.
Thursday the FIFA Club World Cup began in Japan. This is the twelfth year for this tournament. Japan has hosted it seven times. Competing for world supremacy are River Plate, Barcelona, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, TP Mazembe, América, Auckland City, and Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
Thursday Celtic played their last, meaningless, Europa League match of the year at Fenerbahçe, Turkey. 1 - 1.
Also in Turkey, Karşıyaka [0 - 1] Yeni Malatyaspor.
Larges Thistle vs Winton Rovers, if Winton have nothing else going on. [Winton do, so no game.]
[Rangers come back to tie it 2 - 2. Morton goal by McCluskey, plus an own goal. Scenes.]
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