At the end of 2021 Celtic signed Daizen Maeda from Yokohama F. Marinos, for whom he netted 26 goals in 70 league matches. He scored four minutes into his first game in a Celtic uniform. And leave us not forget that in 2017 he contributed 13 goals for Mito HollyHock. [And he was man of the match in today's 7 - 0 thrashing of St Johnstone.] Source.
Morton travel to Stark's Park for their final match against Raith Rovers. Raith are fifth with 43 points, Morton seventh with 37. From three meetings so far this season Raith have two wins and a draw. Morton have not won against Raith Rovers since Raith returned to the Championship two years ago.
Last weekend Raith won the Challenge Cup. And they were the only Championship club this season to beat a Premiership side. (See below.)
But they lost to Dunfermline on Wednesday, and so far have only 10 points to show from the second half of the season. The wide point gap that made the Championship two five-team leagues earlier in the season has dwindled to 4 points. A win for Morton today would put them 3 points out of fifth place.
Yesterday Raith sacked their chairman over the David Goodwillie fiasco.
Morton have played three consecutive 1 - 1 draws. The last time they did that was January/February 2014. If they add a fourth 1 - 1 draw today it'll be a club record.
When was the last time Morton and Raith met in the top division? December 20th, 1969. Raith won 2 - 1 at Stark's Park.
After last night's QoS/Partick game it's clear that Queen of the South will finish tenth, though they won't be officially relegated today. So the question is, Can both Ayr and Dunfermline surpass Morton? Their remaining games look like this:
Morton: Raith, Hamilton, ICT, Arbroath
Ayr United: ICT, Dunfermline, QoS, Partick
Dunfermline: Kilmarnock, Ayr, Partick, QoS
Ayr and Dunfermline will play each other, so they can't both win every remaining game. The best they can do is 46 (Ayr) and 41 (Pars), or 44 (Pars) and 43 (Ayr), or 44 (Ayr) and 42 (Pars) if they tie. If Morton can earn 2 wins and a draw they will have 44 points and a certificate of safety.
[Morton win 0 - 1 on a goal by Muirhead.]
The other Championship matches:
Dunfermline 2 - 0 Raith Rovers (April 6)
QoS (10th) 0 - 1 Partick Thistle (4th) (last night)
Ayr United (8th) [2 - 2] ICT (3rd)
Hamilton (6th) [0 - 1] Arbroath (2nd)
Killie (1st) [2 - 0] Dunfermline (9th)
Other matches:
This is the last weekend before the Premiership split, with seven clubs chasing three above-the-split places. The most interesting fixtures are:
Livingston (8th, 37 points) [2 - 2] Motherwell (5th, 39 points)
Aberdeen (9th, 36 points) [0 - 1] Ross County (7th, 37 points)
[Dundee United, Ross County and Motherwell make the split.]
Cowdenbeath will officially become Team 42 today if they cannot beat Annan or if Elgin City earn a point against Stenhousemuir.
Annan [2 - 3] Cowdenbeath
Elgin [0 - 2] Stenny
East Kilbride 1 - 1 Berwick Rangers (April 5)
Bo'ness United [0 - 6] East Kilbride
Rangers B and Celtic B will play in the Lowland League again next year.
Deveronvale 0 - 1 Clachnacuddin (April 6)
Huntly [2 - 2] Clachnacuddin
Aarau [0 - 3] Winterthur (yesterday) [Winterthur take first place from Aarau.]
1.FC Saarbrücken [0 - 0] SV Waldhof
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise [0 - 0] Beerschot (tomorrow)
UCD 0 - 2 Derry City (April 4)
Sligo Rovers [2 - 2] UCD
Zweigen Kanazawa [1 - 1] Mito HollyHock (tomorrow)
Waseda University 0 - 0 University of Tsukuba (April 3)
Waseda University [0 - 2] Kokushikan University
SWF Championship South: Morton [1 - 4] Edinburgh City (tomorrow)
Largs Thistle [1 - 1] Auchinleck Talbot
If Talbot get into the Lowland League this could be Largs Thistle's last game against them for a long time.
NWCFL Division 1 playoff semi-final:
FC Isle of Man [3 - 0] Wythenshawe Amateurs
WE League: Parceiro Nagano 0 - 0 Elfen Saitama (April 3)
The Tohoku Soccer League has just released its 2022 schedule, to kick off in mid-May. In contrast the Kyushu League is already four games into its schedule. Let's follow Dogizaka FC again this year and hope for a complete season this time. Right now Dogizaka are busy trying to win the Aomori prefectural championship.
I say Dogizaka but they changed their name to Bogolle.D.Tsugaru FC in the offseason.
75th Aomori Prefecture Soccer Championship, Round Two (tomorrow):
Match No. 4: Aomori University [1 - 4] Hachinohe Gakuin University
Match No. 5: Blancdieu Hirosaki [2 - 1] Bogolle.D.Tsugaru FC [Video.]
The 2022 Canadian Premier League season opened Thursday, three and a half weeks earlier than in 2019. Spreading the early games through April is a good way to avoid fixture congestion but not necessarily the best way to avoid snow. We had a blizzard in Halifax on Monday.
York United 0 - 1 HFX Wanderers (April 7)
Goal by Morelli.
Former HFX Wanderer Stefan Karajovanovic has been signed by Toronto FC II. Poor old Iida Kodai still doesn't have a team.
Europa League quarter-finals, first leg (April 7):
Braga 1 - 0 Rangers
Concacaf Champions League, semi-finals, first leg:
UNAM 2 - 1 Cruz Azul (April 5)
Seattle Sounders 3 - 1 NYCFC (April 6)
Championship versus Premiership 2021-22:
2021/7/13 St Mirren 1 - 0 Dunfermline
2021/7/17 Dundee United 1 - 0 Arbroath
2021/7/17 Motherwell 3 - 2 Queen of the South
2021/7/21 Livingston 0 - 0 Raith Rovers (Livi won on PK.)
2021/7/25 Hearts 1 - 0 ICT
2021/7/25 St Mirren 2 - 0 Partick Thistle
2021/8/13 Rangers 5 - 0 Dunfermline
2021/8/14 Ayr United 1 - 1 Dundee United (Dundee United won on PK.)
2021/8/15 Raith Rovers 2 - 1 Aberdeen
2021/8/15 Hibs 2 - 0 Kilmarnock
2021/8/15 Arbroath 2 - 2 St Johnstone (St Johnstone won on PK.)
2021/9/23 Celtic 3 - 0 Raith Rovers
2022/1/22 Ayr United 0 - 2 St Mirren
2022/1/22 Motherwell 2 - 1 Morton
2022/1/22 Kilmarnock 1 - 2 Dundee United
2022/2/12 Partick Thistle 0 - 1 Dundee United
2022/2/13 Arbroath 1 - 3 Hibs
2022/2/13 Celtic 4 - 0 Raith Rovers
1999-2000
April 8, 2000. Morton were away to Broomfield where they lost to Airdrieonians 3 - 0. Clydebank hosted Livingston and lost 1 - 2. It was the Bankies' first goal since March 7th and their last of the season.
Some Early Morton and Port Glasgow Athletic friendlies:
This list includes all friendlies I've found in the Glasgow Herald for the years prior to Morton's joining the SFL in 1893. Scottish Alliance matches, Scottish Cup, Renfrewshire Cup, Greenock and District Cup and Greenock Charity Cup results are not included. This list is almost guaranteed to be incomplete and would benefit from a search of the Greenock Telegraphs of the time.
1882/12/16 Morton 0 - 0 Port Glasgow
1883/5/5 Port Glasgow 5 - 1 Morton
1883/12/15 Morton 2 - 1 Port Glasgow
1884/4/19 Port Glasgow 5 - 2 Morton
1886/8/14 Morton 2 - 0 Port Glasgow
1886/9/25 Port Glasgow 8 - 3 Morton
1886/11/13 Morton 4 - 4 Port Glasgow (protested)
1888/8/25 Morton 7 - 1 Port Glasgow
1889/3/2 Morton 1 - 4 Port Glasgow
1889/4/20 Port Glasgow 4 - 4 Morton
1889/5/18 Morton 7 - 2 Port Glasgow
1889/10/12 Port Glasgow 3 - 3 Morton
1890/4/5 Morton 1 - 2 Port Glasgow
1890/10/11 Morton 2 - 2 Port Glasgow
1890/12/13 Port Glasgow 4 - 0 Morton
1891/2/28 Port Glasgow 1 - 3 Morton
1892/5/21 Morton 3 - 1 Port Glasgow
1892/10/22 Morton 5 - 1 Port Glasgow
1893/1/21 Port Glasgow 4 - 2 Morton
1893/4/1 Morton 2 - 2 Port Glasgow
1893/5/6 Port Glasgow 4 - 0 Morton
Other Port Glasgow info:
Port Glasgow in the Scottish Cup
Port Glasgow vs Morton in the Scottish Alliance, Glasgow and West of Scotland Football League, Scottish Cup, Renfrewshire Cup and Renfrewshire Coronation Cup.
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