Welsh Cup

THS versus Penybont back in September. Source.

The Welsh Cup final was held Sunday: The New Saints vs Penybont.

TNS had won it seven times before, most recently in 2019; Penybont never. Due to Covid the last two cup finals were cancelled.

The New Saints are 14-time Cymru Premier champions, including this year's championship. They make it to Europe nearly every year and have a place booked in the first qualifying round of the coming Champions League. They have also competed in four editions of the Scottish Challenge Cup. Declan McManus is on their squad; he played for Morton from 2014 to 2016.

Penybont finished fourth in this year's Cymru Premier. They were formed in 2013 through a merger of Brigdend Town and Bryntirion Athletic.

Final score: The New Saints 3 - 2 Penybont. Declan McManus (Morton 2014-16) scored the winner.

The SPFL playoffs are under way.

Premiership playoff quarter-finals, first leg:

Partick Thistle [1 - 2] Inverness CT

These two have never met in a playoff before.

Championship playoff semi-finals, first leg:

Montrose [1 - 0] Airdrieonians

These two have never met in a playoff before.

Queen's Park [0 - 0] Dunfermline (tomorrow)

Dunfermline have lots of playoff experience, all unhappy. They finished the 1994-95 season one point out of first place in the First Division, behind Raith Rovers, then met Aberdeen (9th in the Premier Division) in a playoff, and lost. In 2012-13, like this year, Dunfermline finished ninth. They were able to defeat Forfar but lost to Alloa. The next year they finished second in League One, beat Stranraer but lost to Cowdenbeath. In 2017-18 they finished 4th in the Championship and met 3rd-place Dundee United in the Premiership playoff quarterfinals, losing. Last year they finished 4th again, and lost to 3rd-place Raith.

But the last time Queen's Park beat Dunfermline in a game was 1985.

League 1 playoff semi-finals, first leg:

Edinburgh City [4 - 1] Dumbarton

Dumbarton beat Edinburgh City in the playoffs last year.

Annan [1 - 0] Forfar

Forfar beat Annan in the playoffs in 2017.

Concacaf Champions League final, second leg (tomorrow)

Seattle Sounders [3 - 0] UNAM

[Seattle advance to the Club World Cup.]

West of Scotland League (tomorrow):

Blantyre Victoria [1 - 6] Darvel

Auchinleck Talbot [0 - 1] Kirkintilloch Rob Roy

Other matches:

Okayama [2 - 1] Mito HollyHock (tomorrow)

WE League: Elfen Saitama 1 - 1 Nojima Stella (May 1)

League1 Ontario: Woodbridge Strikers 2 - 3 North Mississauga (May 1)

Woodbridge Strikers play at Vaughan Grove Sports Park. They were founded in 1976 and joined League1 Ontario as a founding member in 2014. They won the league in 2015 and 2017.

Vaughan is the city directly north of Toronto, and the site of CN's MacMillan Yard, three square kilometres of switches, tracks, humps and control towers.

Rumour has former HFX Wanderer Iida Kodai signing with RANS Cilegon of the Indonesian league. Source.

Which Morton scorelines were most frequent this season?

1 - 1    |||| |||

0 - 0    |||| |

0 - 1    ||||

0 - 3    ||||

1 - 0    ||||

1 - 2    ||||

2 - 2    ||||

2 - 1    |||

0 - 2    ||

3 - 1    ||

1 - 6    |

2 - 0    |

2 - 3    |

5 - 0    |

(League and cup. The scores are expressed as Morton first, opponent second.)

What if the 2021-22 Championship had an Apertura/Clausura format?

Apertura

Arbroath             18      9    7    2    30    14    +16    34

Raith Rovers      18      9    6    3    27    17    +10    33

Kilmarnock         18    10    2    6    22    12    +10    32

Partick Thistle    18      9    4    5    30    16    +14    31

Inverness CT     18      9    4    5    24    14    +10    31

QoS                   18      5    5    8    19    24       -5    20

Hamilton            18      5    5    8    17    31     -14    20

Ayr United         18      3    6    9    16    32     -16    15

Dunfermline       18      2    8    8    19    30     -11    14

Morton               18      2    7    9    16    30     -14    13

Clausura

Kilmarnock        18    10    5    3    28    15    +13    35

Arbroath            18      8    7    3    24    14    +10    31

Inverness CT     18     7    7    4    29    20      +9    28

Morton               18     7    6    5    20    17      +3    27

Ayr United          18     6    6    6    23    20      +3    24

Hamilton            18     5    7    6    21    22       -1    22

Dunfermline       18     5    6    7    17    23      +6    21

Partick Thistle    18     5    6    7    16    24       -8    21

Raith Rovers      18     3    8    7    17    27     -10    17

QoS                    18     3    4  11    17    30     -13    13

(The apertura includes all games played through December 12th, plus a postponed fixture between Kilmarnock and Dunfermline played on February 12th. The clausura is everything else.)

If Morton do as well in both halves of 2022-23 as they did in the second half of this season they'll end up with 54 points, which is generally good enough to make the promotion playoffs.

Darvel and Auchinleck Talbot are 1 point apart at the top of the West of Scotland League with three games to go. Which one has the easier run in?

Darvel play Blantyre Victoria (19th), Kilwinning Rangers (5th), Irvine Meadow (8th). Their placements in the league table add up to 32. Talbot play Rob Roy (13th), Glenafton (15th), Cumbernauld United (18th). Their placements add up to 46. Talbot's opponents as a group are lower in the table. Also, Kilwinning have beaten Darvel once already this season. Talbot have the easier run in.

The 2021-22 SWF Championship South is done. The final table is strange due to Covid and clubs dropping out mid-season. Morton Women finish seventh. Below is a completish list of Morton's results, including expunged games:

2021/8/8        Morton 1 - 4 St Mirren                league

2021/8/15      Renfrew 3 - 0 Morton                 league

2021/8/22      Morton 6 - 1 Airdrie                   league

2021/9/12      Morton 4 - 0 Gleniffer                league

2021/9/29      Edinburgh City 6 - 0 Morton       league

2021/10/3      Morton 4 - 0 Broomhill               league

2021/10/17    Falkirk 2 - 4 Morton                   league

2021/10/31    Morton 3 - 0 United Glasgow    league

2021/11/7      Clyde 0 - 6 Morton                    league

2021/11/14    Rossvale 3 - 2 Morton               league

2021/11/21    Morton 0 - 3 Livingston              league

2021/12/19    Raith Rovers 0 - 2 Morton    SWF Scottish Cup

2022/1/9        Spartans 11 - 0 Morton          SWF Scottish Cup

2022/1/16      Ayr United 1 - 0 Morton             league

2022/1/23      Morton 1 - 3 Hutchison Vale      league

2022/1/30      Edinburgh Caledonia 1 - 3 Morton    league

2022/2/6        Morton 1 - 1 Stenhousemuir      league

2022/2/20      Gartcairn 5 - 1 Morton               league

2022/2/27      Livingston 4 - 2 Morton              league

2022/3/6        Morton 7 - 4 Edinburgh Caledonia    league

2022/3/13      Morton 1 - 5 Gartcairn               league

2022/4/3        Hutchison Vale 2 - 3 Morton     league

2022/4/10      Morton 1 - 4 Edinburgh City      league

2022/4/13      Morton 4 - 1 Ayr United            league

2022/4/22      Morton 2 - 1 Renfrew                league

2022/4/24      Morton 3 - 2 Rossvale              league

Seasons of Morton Women:

                  G     W    D     L       F      A       GD    Pts    Pos

2017         20    18    2      0    122      8    +114    56      1st, SWFL 2 West

2018         22      2    0    20      18    79      -61       6    11th, SWFL 1 South

2019         14    14    0      0    105      4    +101    42      1st, SWFL 2 W/SW

2020           3      2    0      1        9      4       +5       6      3rd, SWF Champ S

2021-22    22    10    1    11      50    56        -6     31      7th, SWF Champ S