BOBBY Barr is a big admirer of Mark Warburton's attacking blueprint for Rangers but tonight he hopes to point out its shortcomings. The Morton winger, a boyhood supporter of the Ibrox side who has been along to Govan a few times this season on free weekends, utilised his flaring pace to exploit the spaces behind rampaging full backs James Tavernier and Lee Wallace during the 2-2 draw in Govan in December and is primed to do so again.
"They are a good team," said the former Albion Rovers, Livingston and Brechin City winger. "The way they play football is pleasing on the eye compared to last season where they were grinding out one-nils or two-nils. This year they are scoring goals, creating chances and that is reflected in the crowds they are getting.
"We have played against them twice now, so we know what they are about," he added. "They play the one way - but it is very effective. The two full backs are excellent, the three in the middle of the park are always interchanging as are the three up front.
"But the way the game played out at Ibrox suited us, because they were wanting to score goals and it left space for the likes of myself and Stef [McCluskey] to get into. Obviously we have Dec McManus [signed on-loan from Fleetwood Town] now as well so hopefully we can cause them a few problems again."
Pace, strength, ability, hard work: Barr has enough about him as a footballer to wonder why he was combining part-time football in League One with Brechin City with a job in a factory until Jim Duffy offered him a route back into the full-time game. The answer is probably simple: this one-time roofer is still patching up his reputation after a rather chequered history of confrontations with authority, first in the form of Todd Lumsden, his old assistant manager at Albion Rovers, then John Hughes, who was in charge of team affairs at Livingston.
If age and the added responsibility of looking after his seven-year-old son Craig has mellowed him, Barr says he was never much of a wild child anyway and has more than 300 senior appearances under his belt to prove it. Signed on an initial one-year deal, he has been a virtual ever-present for Morton his season and they are a different team without him.
"If you ask the manager here, I am no trouble at all in the dressing room," said Barr. "I am an alright lad. I am loud, chirpy, but there are no problems.
"It was just one of those things, something that happened twice, at Albion and Livi," he added. "But before it all happened with Yogi I got on well with him. It wasn't a full scale argument, more a conversation or disagreement, but he is the manager, he makes the decisions so there is only one winner. I played for two and a half years at Livi under Gary Bollan without a problem, and two years under Ray McKinnon at Brechin. The gaffer here phoned me last season and said he would be happy to take me and I was delighted."
A career path which started out as a trainee at St Johnstone under first Owen Coyle then Derek McInnes may yet have some distance to run, even if Barr is a man of humble aspirations. "I am reasonably happy with the career I have had," this former third division player of the year added. "Every Saturday I play - anywhere I have been. I've never really been stuck on the bench and that is all I can ask for. I feel I am doing alright although I could maybe be doing a little bit more, goals wise. But the championship is a level of play that I am comfortable with. I played at this level with Livi then for one reason or another ended up at Brechin. Now I am back here and enjoying it."
So in a manner of speaking are Morton themselves. Few around Cappielow were forecasting great things upon their return to the Championship this summer but there has been a mid-season reassessment and Barr, who would love to extend his stay at the club, doesn't see why Morton shouldn't finish in a play-off spot. The 4-1 defeat to the Ibrox side at Cappielow back in September was their only big defeat in the season and Barr hopes they can kick on in the battle to beat his old gaffer Ray McKinnon's Raith Rovers and Queen of the South to what is widely assumed to be the last remaining play-off place.
"There are good players in this team and we all work hard," said Barr. "We have all got our different qualities and we seem to work well together. We have done okay - although we should probably have a few more points than we have got.
"I don't know what the fans were thinking at the start of the season but I don't think it is unrealistic aiming for the playoffs now," he said. "Raith and Queens are probably favourites for it, but we have played them and matched them so there is no reason why we can't take that place."
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