Plenty of Nothing

Sir Charles Ogle

The ferry Sir Charles Ogle ran between Halifax and Dartmouth from 1830 till 1894. Source.

Albert Harbour

Albert Harbour, Greenock, 1904. Source.

Morton host Brechin City.

Of the five clubs relegated out of the SPFL via the pyramid playoffs Brechin is the only one to have made a serious effort to get back up. In their three Highland League seasons they have finished third, first and second. If they keep up that level of play they will eventually get their hedge back into the SPFL. As for Albion Rovers, Cowdenbeath, Berwick and East Stirlingshire, the question is which one will be in the East of Scotland League first.

Morton last played Brechin in the 2017-18 Championship, the year that Brechin earned one win in league play. The last Morton player to score on the Hedgemen was John Baird.

Several of the Brechin players have SPFL experience, but none played for Morton. Cameron Blues played for Brechin in 2018-19. Brechin's manager Patrick Cregg made one appearance for Morton in 2010.

It's hard to see Morton advancing to Round Two after Saturday's loss to East Fife, especially as seven second place clubs already have 3 points. But it's not mathematically impossible yet.

[Morton win 1 - 0 on a goal by Cammy Ballantyne.]

Also:

Alloa [0 - 0] East Fife [Alloa win on PK]

St Johnstone are off.

Group F standings after today's matches:

East Fife           2    1    0    1    0    3    0    +3    4

St Johnstone    1    1    0    0    0    2    1    +1    3

Morton              2    1    0    0    1    1    3     -2    3

Alloa                 1    0    1    0    0    0    0      0    2

Brechin             2    0    0    0    2    1    3     -2    0

Other matches:

Carluke Rovers 0 - 1 Lanark United (Clydesdale Cup SF) (July 15)

HFX Wanderers U21 [1 - 1] Ipswich Town U21 (at CBU) (tomorrow) [Wanderers win on PK.]

UEFA Champions League, 1QR, second leg:

Shamrock Rovers [2 - 1] Vikingur (Iceland)

FK Dečić (Montenegro) [1 - 1] The New Saints

Larne [0 - 4] FC RFS (Latvia) (tomorrow)

[Shamrock Rovers and The New Saints advance. Larne drop into the Conference League.]

The 2024-25 Plenty of Nothing Championship League Cup:

This is the sixth year for this made-up cup which uses actual Championship results to fabricate a knock-out competition. The teams are seeded based on last year's Premiership, Championship and League One standings:

Livingston (12th in the Premiership)

Raith Rovers (2nd in the Championship)

Partick Thistle (3rd)

Airdrieonians (4th)

Morton (5th)

Dunfermline (6th)

Ayr United (7th)

Queen's Park (8th)

Falkirk (1st in League One)

Hamilton Accies (2nd in League One)

Top seed plays bottom seed, second seed plays second bottom seed, etc. Round One involves only the bottom four teams. Each known fixture is played as soon as it comes up, even if the previous round is not finished. Reverse fixtures are acceptable. All actual league games, cup matches and playoffs are eligible, but our tournament's tie-breakers take precedence. Those are, in order: 1) fewer red cards; 2) fewer yellow cards; 3) more corner kicks; 4) visitor.

Matches:

R1    Falkirk vs Queen's Park (August 2)

R1    Hamilton Accies vs Ayr United (August 3)

R2    Partick Thistle vs Dunfermline (September 21)

R2    Morton vs Airdrieonians (September 21)

R2    Livingston vs R1x

R2    Raith Rovers vs R1y

SF

SF

F

Once the finalists are known, the other eight teams embark on the Consolation Cup which has three rounds.

Lusitania by Karl Goetz

Karl Goetz (1875-1950) was a German artist specializing in commemorative/satirical medallions. He's probably best known for this propaganda piece on the sinking of the Lusitania by a submarine on May 7th, 1915 (which the medal famously got wrong by two days). The other side shows a skeleton running the Cunard Line ticket office under the motto Business Above All. Source.

The Theresa E. Connor

The banks schooner Theresa E. Connor was launched on this day in 1938 at Lunenburg. Source.

Lurcher Lightship No. 4

The Lurcher Shoal is located 20 miles off Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. From 1904 to 1969 the Canadian Coast Guard had a lightship positioned there to divert ships away from the the hazardous feature. There's an automatic buoy in place now. Lurcher is also the name of the rectangle of sea that includes the shoal. Source.

Aberystwyth College Mosaic

A detail from the mosaics adorning the Old College building at Aberystwyth University. Source.

The Elisabeth Mann Borgese

Source.

Queen Mary Route Map

A map tracing RMS Queen Mary's trans-Atlantic progress, in the ship's Grand Salon. Source.

SS Princess Helene

SS Princess Helene (photographed in 1949) served as the ferry between Saint John and Digby from 1930 to 1963, including the war when she had a naval escort. She was built by William Denny and Brothers of Dumbarton. Source.

To Ibrox by Car Ferry

Renfrew and Yoker are connected by ferry, though these days it's passenger-only.

It's the Scottish League Cup, Round Two, in which Morton travel to Ibrox to face Rangers FC. Today's game starts at 12:30 BST for the benefit of Viaplay, the Swedish video streaming service that bought the naming rights to this cup partway through last season and is already planning to get out.

These two clubs met on February 12th, 2017 in the Scottish Cup, Round Five, and Rangers won 2 - 1. Michael Tidser was the Morton scorer. Morton's most recent win against Rangers came on April 9th, 1988, the last time Morton were in the top division. Tommy Turner, Derek Collins and Rowan Alexander scored for a 3 - 2 Morton win at Cappielow.

Rangers are coming off a 1 - 1 draw with Genève Servette on Tuesday, which allows Gers to advance to the Champions League play-off round. Rangers were beaten by Kilmarnock in Week One of the Scottish Premiership.

Rangers have knocked Morton out of 17 cups over the course of their history.

This round features ten Premiership clubs plus five from the Championship and one from League One. The missing Premiership sides are Dundee and St Johnstone who both crashed out in the group stage.

Morton have re-signed midfielder Iain Wilson on loan from Queen of the South. He previously played for the Ton in the second part of 2021-22.

[Rangers 2 - 1 Morton. Goal by Gillespie.]

The other League Cup matches:

Stirling Albion 1 - 2 Aberdeen (last night)

Airdrieonians [3 - 4] Ross County

Livingston [2 - 0] Ayr United

St Mirren [1 - 0] Motherwell

Hibs [2 - 1] Raith Rovers (tomorrow)

Kilmarnock [1 - 0] Celtic (tomorrow)        Upset

Hearts [4 - 0] Partick Thistle (tomorrow)

Championship:

Arbroath [0 - 1] Queen's Park

This match is brought forward from October 31, as both teams are out of the League Cup and have a free day. A win for QP would likely let them hang on to first place for the next several weeks.

Other matches:

Strathspey Thistle [0 - 6] Banks o' Dee

East Craigie [1 - 3] Letham

Largs Thistle [2 - 0] Arthurlie

East Kilbride Thistle [6 - 1] Carluke Rovers

Cardiff Metropolitan University [0 - 0] Bala Town

Cliftonville [4 - 0] Carrick Rangers

NPR2 Vic: Preston Lions [2 - 2] Brunswick City

This concludes the NPL Vic 2 schedule. [Preston Lions finish mid-table.]

Mito HollyHock [1 - 1] Blaublitz Akita

Forge [1 - 1] HFX Wanderers

[Goal by Nimick.]

Toronto FC [2 - 3] CF Montreal (tomorrow)

Scrosoppi 5 - 0 Hamilton United (August 16)

Masters FA [1 - 2] Scrosoppi

Morton Women vs Morton Women U16 (August 17)

Morton Women [1 - 4] ICT (tomorrow)

This starts the SWF Championship season.

FAI Cup, Round Two:

UCD vs Galway United (yesterday) (abandoned)

UCD [1 - 5] Galway United (Monday)

2023-24 South Challenge Cup, R1 (North-West Zone):

Ardeer Thistle [2 - 3] Beith

Broomhill [1 - 0] Neilston (tomorrow)

Eglinton [0 - 2] Irvine Meadow XI

Glasgow Perthshire [1 - 3] BSC Glasgow

Glasgow United [1 - 3] St Roch's

Kilbirnie Ladeside [2 - 1] Greenock Juniors

St Cadoc's [1 - 0] Port Glasgow

Yoker Athletic [6 - 3] Renfrew

East of Scotland Qualifying Cup R2:

Peebles Rovers [1 - 4] Broxburn Athletic

Linlithgow Rose [6 - 3] Leith Athletic

2023-24 UEFA Europa Conference League, 3QR, second leg (August 17):

Hearts 3 - 1 Rosenborg

Luzern 2 - 2 Hibs

Derry City 1 - 0 Tobol (Tobol advance on PK)

Hibs and Hearts advance. Derry City are out. So far in European play Hibs have two wins and Rangers and Hearts have one each.

2023 Women's World Cup final (tomorrow):

Spain [1 - 0] England

Historical matches:

1882/8/19      Morton 1 - 3 Partick Thistle (friendly)

1944/8/19      Morton 3 - 2 Hibs

1967/8/16      Morton 3 - 1 Raith Rovers

1967/8/19      Morton 6 - 0 Dumbarton

These were games two and three of the League Cup Group stage. Morton were in Group 7.

1995/8/19      Rangers 3 - 0 Morton

Round 2 of the League Cup. (Both teams had a bye through Round 1.)