The view from Greenock Golf Club, c. 1935.
Clyde visit Cappielow for their League Cup group stage match against Morton.
At this point Morton cannot win the group. Even if they beat Clyde and finish with six points, either Stranraer or Kilmarnock must finish with at least seven. As for the three second place slots, Groups B, C and D will each produce a second-place team with more than six points. So no League Cup for Morton this year.
Morton and Clyde have played one competitive match in the past decade. Contrast the 1910s when they played 20, the 1960s when they played 21 and, in what proves to be the heyday of their rivalry, the 1940s when they met 27 times.
One reason for that was that they were both members of the wartime Southern League, from which there was neither promotion nor relegation. Another was the Summer Cup, which added fixtures to what normally would have been the close season. They met five times in that competition during the war:
1941/6/7 Morton 1 - 2 Clyde
1941/6/14 Clyde 3 - 1 Morton
1943/5/29 Clyde 1 - 1 Morton
1943/6/5 Morton 8 - 3 Clyde
1944/7/1 Clyde 3 - 3 Morton (This was a semi-final. Clyde advanced, possibly after a coin toss.)
Clyde have made it to the League Cup semi-finals three times, in 1956, 1957 and 1968, but never the final. Morton made the semi-finals in 1963, 1964, 1967, 1979 and 2016, and the final in 1963.
Clyde defender Jonathan Page played for Morton in 2013-14, as did Adam Livingstone in 2019-20. Alan Lithgow played for Clyde from 2008 to 2011.
Morton hosted Clyde in the 2016-17 group stage and won 1 - 0.
John Sutton is back as Morton development team coach.
Falkirk forfeited their Wednesday match against Edinburgh City and also today's match against Ayr United, ensuring the Honest Men a place in Round Two. Six group stage matches have been awarded due to Covid, plus one for a suspended player.
[Morton win 2 - 1, on two goals by Muirhead.]
The other match:
Kilmarnock [2 - 1] Stranraer
East Kilbride are on Lowland League duty. (See below.)
Group G final table:
Kilmarnock 4 2 1 0 1 5 6 -1 8
Stranraer 4 2 0 0 2 5 3 +2 6
Morton 4 1 1 1 1 3 5 -2 6
East Kilbride 4 1 0 2 1 5 3 +2 5
Clyde 4 1 1 0 2 5 6 -1 5
What was the last time Kilmarnock played a league match against the other 2021-22 Championship clubs?
2021/5/16 Hamilton Academical
2018/4/7 Partick Thistle
2017/5/13 Inverness CT
2012/5/12 Dunfermline
1997/3/5 Raith Rovers
1993/3/20 Ayr United
1993/3/9 Morton
1990/4/21 Queen of the South
1990/2/17 Arbroath
Canadian Premier League:
HFX Wanderers [1 - 0] Valour FC
[Goal by Pierre Lamothe.]
Valour are the surprise team of 2021, leading the league from the first day. You'll recall that they finished 2019 in 7th place and 2020 in 6th.
The Kickoff is over. Wanderers proceed to the next phase, in which they get to play the three eastern teams at the Wanderers Grounds. There has not been a CPL game in Halifax since October 9, 2019.
The schedule for the 2021 Canadian Championship is out. HFX play AS Blainville first, and if they win, CF Montreal.
Winnipeg Fury versus Nova Scotia Clippers in the Canadian Soccer League:
1991/5/28 Nova Scotia Clippers 2 - 0 Winnipeg Fury
1991/6/23 Winnipeg Fury 2 - 2 Nova Scotia Clippers
1991/7/24 Winnipeg Fury 1 - 1 Nova Scotia Clippers
1991/8/30 Nova Scotia Clippers 1 - 2 Winnipeg Fury
Other games:
JFL: Suzuka Point Getters [2 - 1] FC Kariya (tomorrow)
Jeonbuk vs Pohang Steelers (July 21) (postponed)
Pohang Steelers [0 - 1] FC Seoul
Tohoku Div 1: Ganju Iwate [2 - 0] Dogizaka (tomorrow)
Jaro [0 - 2] TPS
Largs Thistle [4 - 2] Rossvale
Celtic B [1 - 1] East Kilbride
Rangers [2 - 1] Real Madrid (friendly) (tomorrow)
3.Liga begins: TSV Halelse [0 - 1] 1.FC Saarbrücken
FAI Cup, Round One (yesterday): UCD 2 - 0 Shelbourne
The Strongest [3 - 1] Bolivar (tomorrow)
2021-22 UEFA Europa Conference 2QR, first leg (July 20 - 22):
Aberdeen 5 - 1 Hacken
Hibs 3 - 0 Santa Coloma
HB 4 - 0 Budućnost Podgorica (Montenegro)
Linfield 4 - 0 Borac Banja Luca (Bosnia)
Prishtina 4 - 1 Connah's Quay Nomads
Valur 0 - 3 Bodø/Glimt (Norway)
Dundalk 2 - 2 FCI Levadia (Estonia)
Kauno Žalgiris (Lithuania) 0 - 5 The New Saints
Larne 2 - 1 AGF (Denmark)
F91 Dudelange 0 - 1 Bohemians
Austria Wien 1 - 1 Breiðablik
FH 0 - 2 Rosenborg
The Highland League starts today. Let's follow Clachnacuddin, as we tried to do last year:
Inverurie Loco Works [5 - 0] Clachnacuddin
The Swiss Challenge League begins. Missing are Grasshoppers (promoted) and Chiasso (relegated). New this year are Vaduz (relegated) and Yverdon-Sport (promoted).
Lausanne-Ouchy 1 - 1 Winterthur (yesterday)
Olympic Women's Soccer, group stage:
Chile [1 - 2] Canada (July 24) [2 goals by Janine Beckie.]
Japan [0 - 1] Great Britain (July 24)
Coupe de France, Round Two:
AS Saint Pierraise [2 - 1] AS Miquelonaisse
Other developments:
The Scottish Cup draw is about due.
The 2021-22 Scottish Women's Championship South fixtures are out, partly.
1999-2000
In the summer of 1999 homeless Clydebank FC moved out of Boghead Park, where they had been groundsharing with Dumbarton FC, and moved in with Greenock Morton at Cappielow. The Bankies would play there for three seasons, after which they were purchased and relocated to Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie to operate under the name Airdrie United. In 1999-2000 both Morton and Clydebank were members of the First Division and took turns being 'visitor' whenever they met in league play, though they were both home.
The 1999-2000 calendar mostly lines up with 2021-22's. 2000 was a leap year, so the games from March to May 2000 will be one day off. Let's follow Morton and Clydebank through 1999-2000 as they channel Oscar and Felix at Cappielow.
A note about sources. Fitbastats covers most events. Clydebank have a 1999-2000 season article on Wikipedia for further detail, but Morton have not. Even better for Clydebank statistics is The Bankies Archive. Online access to the Greenock Telegraphs of the day would be ideal, but isn't available. The Glasgow Herald archive at Google Books only goes up to about 1990, and accessing BBC Football reports from 1999 is a hit and miss process.
July 24, 1999. (Friendly) Clydebank visited Gala Fairydean of the East of Scotland League at Netherdale and beat them 5 - 0.
Apparently Morton were scheduled to play a friendly at Clyde, but Clyde do not list it on their website, and I haven't found the score. It was a rainy day, so maybe the match was abandoned. But there's this:
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