Morton's failure to again secure three points from a match they were expected to win cost them their place at the summit of the First Division after they could earn only a draw against third-bottom Cowdenbeath.
Having brought in the New Year by succumbing to a shock 3-0 defeat at home to bottom side Dumbarton, following victories against promotion rivals Partick Thistle and Dunfermline, Allan Moore's team were profligate again and the East End Park side benefited by leapfrogging them back to the top of the table. Cowdenbeath had drawn their previous three outings and had not won in their last 13 league games but, boosted by the inclusion of three on-loan signings, they took the lead through Liam Caddis, drafted in from St Johnstone.
However, despite giving themselves the chance to go on and take all three points after equalising shortly after half-time through Peter MacDonald's volley, Morton once more fell below the standards required to hold on to the top spot.
Moore said: "We can't keep giving teams a lead because no matter who you are playing in this division it's difficult to get back. Everybody expected us to win and if we had gone 1-0 up it would have been a different game. But that was a harder game than we got against Thistle or Dunfermline. When you are top of the league everybody wants to shoot you down."
In addition to Caddis, Hibs youngster Sam Stanton and Rangers striker Kane Hemmings were prominent in the opening exchanges after signing on loan, but it was a familiar face in the Morton ranks who enjoyed the first chance of the match.
MacDonald hooked the ball back into the danger area as the Fifers failed to clear a Morton free-kick, but Peter Weatherson's header looped too high and finished on the roof of the net. The Cappielow outfit, without the experienced pair of Martin Hardie and Mark McLaughlin, looked uncertain as Hemmings was allowed space to engineer a header and a deflected shot, neither of which seriously troubled Derek Gaston in the Morton goal, and also when Caddis chipped just wide.
David O'Brien then saw his shot held by Thomas Flynn and, given the opportunity to test the home keeper moments later, the Morton winger refused to pull the trigger and his cutback drifted behind his supporting team-mates.
The pattern of play was enough to suggest the scoreline would not remain blank and the goal finally came nine minutes from the interval. A touch of class from veteran player-manager Colin Cameron played in Caddis with a magnificent pass that the St Johnstone youngster took in his stride to bullet low past Gaston. Whatever was said in the away dressing-room during the interval had the desired effect as Morton, booed off at the break, equalised within five minutes of the restart.
Tony Wallace's cross-cum-shot had moments earlier crashed back off the crossbar but the Greenock men kept up the pressure. When another ball was launched into the Cowdenbeath box, Rutkiewicz's head-flick fell perfectly for MacDonald, who powered his volley past the despairing dive of Flynn.
The goal inspired Morton to press hard for the winner, but both sides squandered opportunities to snatch the three points. Cameron was philosophical about the result. He said: "I don't think it would have been undeserved if we had taken 12 points from the last four matches, but we've only got four. But if my lads keep giving me performances like that, we'll turn draws into victories."
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