Morton finished 2012 on a high to move into uncharted waters as the sole name at the top of the Irn-Bru Second Division leaderboard.
After defeating nearest rivals Partick Thistle on Boxing Day, they extended their unbeaten record to nine matches by seeing off Dunfermline – also in the championship frame – 4-2 at Cappielow to put clear daylight between themselves and Thistle at the summit.
Two goals in a five-minute spell from Michael Tidser and Peter Weatherson early in the second half effectively won it against a Dunfermline side, which has now taken just one point in their last four matches.
Jim Jefferies' side started on top and Josh Falkingham was denied by Derek Gaston, who diverted the ball for a corner.
But it was a temporary let-off as Falkingham swung over the kick and Callum Morris towered above the Morton defence to direct a header beyond Gaston and give his side a ninth-minute lead.
Morton's response was swift, but Mark McLaughlin's header bounced just inches wide of the post. David O'Brien was looking dangerous for Morton in the early stages as they sniffed out the equaliser. But it was McLaughlin who came close again midway through the first half when he got his head to a Tidser free-kick only for his effort to strike the crossbar.
Morton looked increasingly dangerous as the first half wore on and scored a well-worked equaliser a minute from the break.
Kevin Rutkiewicz switched play with a fine pass to free Martin Hardie, who picked out Fouad Bachirou and he knocked the ball past Paul Gallacher from close range. Tidser then put Morton in front after 56 minutes when he beat Gallacher with a splendid left-foot shot after Bachirou laid the ball back.
Before Dunfermline had time to recover, Morton extended their lead. O'Brien played in Bachirou and, when Gallacher could not hold his shot, Weatherson was on hand to fire home the third goal.
Dunfermline, however, refused to lie down and pulled a goal back 13 minutes from time. Falkingham's shot came back off the bar, but Ryan Wallace turned in the loose ball. Tidser removed all doubt when he rounded Gallacher to score Morton's fourth with just a minute left to round off a great day's work.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article