IN this contender for game of the season, there was nothing to separate the sides who are third and fourth in the Ladbrokes Championship, with both managers feeling the 2-2 draw was fair.
Home manager Jim Duffy said: “I thought it was a good game, with a lot of opportunities, some contentious decisions and some good goals. Overall it was an excellent football match. We are on the same number of points and I think the game re-emphasised how close we are."
Duffy had watched his men come flying out of the traps flying and they took the lead after 13th minutes when a Ross Forbes free-kick was met by Thomas O’Ware at the back post in what has become a deadly combination.
Duffy must have thought his side had grabbed a two-goal lead when Lawrence Shankland prodded the ball home in the 32nd minute, but referee Greg Aitken chalked it off for handball in the build-up.
This reinvigorated the visitors and they were level within 10 minutes. A cross from the left was cleared only as far as James Craigen, who hammered a shot in off the underside of the bar from 22 yards.
Minutes later it was the visitors who were in uproar as a Craigen free-kick was bundled home by Nathan Austin. However, Aitken again disallowed the “goal”, adjudging that the ball had been handled, to the disbelief of the visiting manager, Peter Houston, and fans.
The second half started at no less blistering a pace with Forbes curling a free-kick off the bar. From the resulting goal-kick Falkirk marched up the park and were awarded a penalty, after Mark Russell bundled Lee Miller over in the box. Aaron Muirhead made no mistake from the spot, slotting the ball past Derek Gaston.
Falkirk could not make this advantage stick though. Morton grew back into the game and Forbes was front and centre again as he pulled his team level. An intricate one-two on the edge of the box with Luke Donnelly saw him race through on goal and he made no mistake, nutmegging Danny Rogers in the Falkirk goal.
Forbes almost stole all three points for Morton with another excellent set-piece in the dying minutes, but this time Rogers was equal to it. Houston agreed with his Morton counterpart after the game, saying: ‘‘It was probably a fair result. It is a deserved point.”
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