Queen’s Park U17 3 Morton U17 2

QUEEN’S PARK under-17s won the first instalment of a Greenock-Glasgow double-header to stay top of the CAS League on Friday night.

Lee Mitchell’s side defeated Morton at Lochinch, less than 24 hours before Sean Crighton’s first team drew 0-0 with the Ton at The city Stadium in the William Hill Championship.

Goals from Caiden Wright, Logan Duffy and Lewis Smith gave the Wee Spiders a win even though the league leaders were not quite at their best. 

Indeed, the visitors took the lead just inside the second half, but a rally from Queen’s Park saw a comfortable 3-1 lead recovered but loose possession gifted Morton the opportunity back in with five minutes to go with a nervous ending.

Goalkeeper Kai Stevenson was required in the final minute too with a brilliant save to secure the points.

Coach Mitchell said: “It was not our best performance, but it was really good that we found a way to win the game even though we weren’t playing well. We showed good attitude from all the boys after going a goal down and reacted well to get ourselves 3-1 in front.

“Game management at that point needs to be better though, and we need to be tidier in possession in future. We turned the ball over far too often, and allowed Morton opportunities to counter on us, which they looked dangerous from and made the closing stages very close for us. 

“Overall, it was a disappointing performance. I think we’ve been very good up to this point. It’s good to get the win despite the performance and hopefully we’ll be back to better performances going forward.”

The under-17s face Hearts in a friendly at Lochinch on Tuesday night, then Kilmarnock on Friday.

QUEEN’S PARK: Stevenson, Browne, Divers, Smith, Wright, Cunningham, Breeds, Moore, Afzal, Quail, Anderson.
Subs: Duffy, Lafferty, Weir, Cunningham, Boughey, Gibson, Watt.