Plenty of Nothing

2016-17 Scottish Cup, Fourth Round

Castle Aaargh.

It's Round Four of the Scottish Cup. Morton host divisional rivals Falkirk. The record:

1911-12        R2        Falkirk 0 - 0 Morton

                                  Morton 3 - 1 Falkirk

1912-13        R2        Morton 2 - 2 Falkirk

                                  Falkirk 3 - 1 Morton

1924-25        R1        Falkirk 1 - 1 Morton

                                  Morton 0 - 3 Falkirk

1947-48        R2        Morton 3 - 2 Falkirk

1967-68        R1        Morton 4 - 0 Falkirk

1968-69        R1        Falkirk 1 - 2 Morton

Both league games between Morton and Falkirk this season have ended in draws.

Earlier this season Morton played another divisional rival, Dundee United, in the League Cup. Was there ever a year when Morton played only divisional rivals in cup competition? Yes, 1974-75, in the days of two divisions. Morton played Division One rivals Airdrieonians in the Scottish Cup, and Dunfermline, Aberdeen and Hearts in the League Cup.

This round is Falkirk's point of entry into the tournament. Morton joined in the Third Round and beat Beith Juniors 0 - 6 to advance.

Morton are riding a 16-game home unbeaten streak, counting league and cup games.

[Morton win 2 - 0. Goals by Lindsay and Forbes. Match report.]

Some other games:

Ross County [6 - 2] Dundee United

The Tangerines knocked Ross County out of the Scottish Cup last year.

Raith Rovers [1 - 1] Hearts

It's the first Scottish Cup game between these two since 1979.

Bonnyrigg Rose [1 - 8] Hibs

This is Bonnyrigg's seventh game of the tournament. They have outscored their opponents 30 to 5.

Ayr United [0 - 0] Queen's Park

This is the sixth Scottish Cup tie between these two. Ayr have won each time except 1975.

Alloa [2 - 3] Dunfermline

Alloa and Dunfermline are 15 miles apart. This is their first Scottish Cup encounter since 1961.

Dundee [0 - 2] St Mirren

These two have met in the Scottish Cup five times before, Dundee winning every time except 1962.

Partick [4 - 0] Formartine

These two teams have never met before, not even at the mall.

Albion Rovers [0 - 3] Celtic

This is the first competitive match between these two since 1976. Albion Rovers have never won the Scottish Cup, but they were finalists in 1919-20, beating Rangers in a semifinal replay before losing to Kilmarnock in the final. And they made the semifinals the next year, losing to Rangers this time. Celtic have won the Scottish Cup five times in the 21st Century.

Albion Rovers, of League One, are not even among the five lowliest clubs Celtic have met in cup competition the 21st Century. Who are they?

2015-16        East Kilbride (Lowland League)    Scottish Cup R5

2001-02        Stirling Albion (Third Division)    League Cup R3

2010-11        Berwick Rangers (Third Division)    Scottish Cup R4

2011-12        Peterhead (Third Division)    Scottish Cup R4

2006-07        Dumbarton (Third Division)    Scottish Cup R3

Which clubs have eliminated Celtic from the Scottish Cup in this century?

01-02        Rangers

02-03        Inverness CT

05-06        Clyde

07-08        Aberdeen

08-09        St Mirren

09-10        Ross County

11-12        Hearts

13-14        Aberdeen

14-15        Inverness CT

15-16        Rangers

Which clubs have won the Scottish Cup in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries?

Hibs, Hearts, Celtic, Rangers.

The top scorer of last year's Scottish Cup tournament was Peter Weatherson, who netted 5 goals for Annan Athletic. Already this year four players have surpassed that mark: Sean Jamieson of Bonnyrigg Rose has 6 goals; Josh Morris of Hawick Royal Albert and John McLeod of Buckie Thistle each have 7; and Wayne McIntosh of Bonnyrigg has 8. (I'm trusting Wikipedia on this. The SFA site doesn't mention the scorers in the results.)

It's also Round Four of the Scottish Junior Cup.

Beith Juniors [0 - 1] Auchinleck Talbot

Linlithgow Rose [4 - 0] Blantyre Victoria

Renfrew [2 - 0] Greenock Juniors

Girvan [2 - 3] Penicuik

No game today in 1898-99.

The Copa Libertadores starts off the day after tomorrow. It's South America's answer to the UEFA Champions League, so it bears looking into and can serve as a way into South American futbol for people like me who know nothing about it. First stage, leg one:

Universitario de Sucre (BOL) [3 - 2] Montevideo Wanderers (URU)

Deportivo Municipal (PER) [0 - 1] Independiente del Valle (ECU)

Deportivo Capiatá (PAR) [1 - 0] Deportivo Táchira (VEN)

How are FC Aarau like Greenock Morton?

Aarau have spent many years in the second flight. Like Morton they have a county (or in this case canton) rival in FC Wohlen. Aarau came close to financial collapse in 2002, just when Morton were doing the same. They have one Swiss Cup, dated 1985.

Stadion Brügglifeld has a medium-sized grandstand in the midfield and a small one next to it on one side of the field, and terracing on the other three sides, a bit like Cowdenbeath's Central Park.

FC Aarau play in Aarau, in Aargau Canton, on the river Aar, at the beginning of the phone book.

Largs Thistle [1 - 2] Kirkintilloch Rob Roy

Liberal and Democrat

 

When in my lifetime has there been a Liberal running Canada and a Democrat in the White House?

 

April 22, 1963 to November 22, 1963:            Pearson and Kennedy

November 22, 1963 to April 20, 1968:            Pearson and Johnson

April 20, 1968 to January 20, 1969:                P. Trudeau and Johnson

 

January 20, 1977 to June 4, 1979:                 P. Trudeau and Carter

March 3, 1980 to January 20, 1981:               P. Trudeau and Carter

 

November 4, 1993 to January 20, 2001:        Chretien and Clinton

 

November 4, 2015 to January 20, 2017:        J. Trudeau and Obama

 

And what about Liberal (Canada), Democrat (USA) and Labour (UK)?

 

October 16, 1964 to April 20, 1968:                Pearson, Johnson, Wilson

April 20, 1968 to January 20, 1969:                P. Trudeau, Johnson, Wilson

 

January 20, 1977 to May 4, 1979:                  P. Trudeau, Carter, Callaghan

 

May 2, 1997 to January 20, 2001:                  Chretien, Clinton, Blair

 

And while we're at it, Liberal (Canada), Democrat (USA), Labour (UK) and Social Democrat (Germany)?

 

January 20, 1977 to May 4, 1979:                  P. Trudeau, Carter, Callaghan, Schmidt

 

October 27, 1998 to January 20, 2001:          Chretien, Clinton, Blair, Schröder

 

Helen Creighton Snowshoeing, Part 2

[These are Jeffie and Lillian Owen. Creighton is the photographer.]

Nova Scotia Archives. Part One.

Astroblemes of Québec: Lac-à-l’Eau-Claire

This is a pair of craters so close to each other that they form one lake, and were long thought to have been formed by a pair of gravitationally bound asteroids, but analysis of the surrounding rock puts them about 180 million years apart. Source.

Outer Office

Filigree

Ukiyo-e Woodblock

Source.

SS Persia

The SS Persia was constructed for the P & O Line by Caird's of Greenock in 1900 and ran between Britain and India before being sunk by a torpedo off Crete on December 30, 1915.

Morton host Raith Rovers. This was to have been the third meeting of these two but the second meeting got postponed till February.

Lately Morton, Falkirk and Raith Rovers have formed a pack competing for the last two promotion playoff spots, but Raith have fallen off a little and now have a negative goal difference thanks to last week's defeat at the hands of Falkirk.

How many years have Morton, Raith, and Falkirk all played in the one division? 33 years: 1910-11 to 1916-17; 1919-20 to 1925-26; 1935-36; 1950-51; 1967-68 and 1968-69; 1976-77; 1983-84; 1988-89 to 1990-91; 1997-98 to 2000-01; 2010-11 to 2013-14; 2015-16 and 2016-17. Whenever they were together in the years before World War Two it was always in the top tier, except for 1935-36. Whenever they were together after the war it was always in the second tier, except for 1950-51, 1967-68 and 1968-69.

Warren Hawke is Morton's new chief executive. Aidan Nesbitt is up for Worst Dive of the Year. Morton have signed Lawrence Shankland, formerly of Queen's Park, Aberdeen, Dunfermline, and St Mirren.

[Morton win 2 - 0. Goals by Forbes and Shankland. Morton improve their hold on third place. Going back to last March and counting league and cup games, Morton are on a 16-game home lossless streak.]

1898-99. Morton met Annbank United in the first round of the Scottish Cup. Annbank is a mining village five miles inland from Ayr. The current Annbank United was formed in 1939.

Glasgow Herald, January 16, 1899 (page 10):

    MORTON V. ANNBANK.--This game was played at Greenock on heavy ground, before a good attendance. Teams:--Morton--M'Pherson; Anderson and Orr; Colligan, Henderson, and Blair; Dale and Hunter; M'Culloch, Lynn, and Reid. Annbank--Stewart; Mulholland and Scott; Hay, Gourlay, and Welsh; Watson and Vance; Henderson, Donnelly, and Sanders. Annbank, although playing against the wind in the first half, more than held their own, and at half-time the score was one goal each. In the second half the home lot showed up a trifle better, and their wing play was good, but M'Culloch, centre, was hardly up to form. Annbank played a hard game, but the better team won. Result--Morton, 3 goals; Annbank, 1. The feature of the game was perhaps the fine display by the home backs, Anderson and Orr, while, on the other hand, the visiting half-backs were in excellent form.

Current home drawless streaks.

0            Dunfermline, Queen of the South, Dundee United, St Mirren

1            Falkirk, Hibs, Ayr United

2            Dumbarton, Morton, Raith

Most draws in a league season. The record appears to belong to Raith Rovers, who played to 20 draws in the 39-game 1986-87 Division Two season. Three clubs have played exactly half their games to draw scores: Stranraer, 18 of 36 times in 1995-96 and again in 1999-2000; Celtic, 18 of 36 times in 1994-95; and Hibs, 18 of 36 times in 1976-77. Morton's record is 16 draws in the 39-game schedule of 1989-90.

Since the reorganization of the Scottish league into four divisions in 1994, which clubs have played in all four divisions? Ross County, Inverness CT, Livingston, Hamilton, Gretna, Rangers.

2016-17 Championship clubs by best showing in the top division:

Hibs                            1st    (1902-03; 1947-48; 1950-51; 1951-52)

Dumbarton                 1st    (1890-91; 1891-92 joint winner)

Dundee United           1st    (1982-83)

Falkirk                         2nd   (1907-08; 1909-10)

Morton                        2nd    (1916-17)

St Mirren                     3rd    (1892-93; 1979-80)

Dunfermline                3rd    (1964-65; 1968-69)

Raith Rovers               3rd    (1921-22)

Ayr United                   4th    (1915-16)

Queen of the South     4th    (1933-34)

The League of Ireland has announced plans to switch to two ten-team divisions in 2018, from the present arrangement of 12 in the top tier and 8 in the second tier. Turmoil!

How is FC Wohlen like Greenock Morton?

FC Wohlen are a blue and white club, like Morton, from the town of Wohlen in Aargau. Wohlen has 15,600 people and more train stations than are needed, like Greenock. They play at Stadion Neidermatten, "The Low Mats," which can accommodate 5,000.

FC Wohlen were founded in 1904. They have never won the Swiss Cup. They have spent most of their history below the second tier, but have currently appeared in the Challenge League 14 years running. They have a cantonal rivalry with FC Aarau.

Largs [0 - 1] Beith

Forres Mechanics [postponed] Strathspey Thistle

Gingerbread Gus's Pub

Source.

Jillian Tamaki Subway Art

Jillian Tamaki has artwork on New York Subway cars. Source.