Scottish club fear forfeiting matches as alarming situation emerges weeks into new season

Greenock Morton boss Ian Murray conceded there’s a ‘real, real possibility’ the club may be forced to forfeit games.

The Scottish Championship side are down to the bare bones, with Murray revealing only 13 players took part in training on Tuesday due to an injury crisis.

Shutterstock Editorial

Along with the alarming lack of troops available, the Ton are yet to taste victory in all six of their competitive fixtures this season.

And Murray, speaking to the Greenock Telegraph, warned the wait for a win looks destined to roll on.

Ian Murray explains why Greenock Morton may have to forfeit games

“If we continue like this, then there’s a real, real possibility that we’ll have to forfeit games, and that is the worst possible case for everybody,” Murray said.

“Either that or we go with the guys from school, which isn’t fair on them, because the bigger picture is their development.

“You can ruin careers by doing that. You can make some, but you can ruin them as well, so you have to be careful with that one.

“At the moment it’s all hands to the pump, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve got to keep going, you get absolutely nothing by throwing the towel in.

“The situation has not changed. We don’t have anything at the moment to do anything, and that’s how tight we’re running at the moment.

“It’s very difficult. But I think, you know, we’ve just finished game two of the league season, so God knows what we’ll look like after 12, 15 games because it starts to get really difficult.

“We’ve got cups to play in as well, it’s tough for everybody, but it’s really, really tough on the players.

“That’s the main thing, and it’s hard for them as well mentally because they’ve given so much in both games and not getting anything out of either of them is hard to take.”

Shutterstock Editorial

What has Ian Murray done to help ease the load on Greenock Morton’s players?

Such is Murray’s desire to avoid the casualty ward growing bigger, he opted to give his players Thursday and Friday off.

“The reason for that is we can’t get any more injuries, and the players need a mental break from my voice,” Murray added.

“People will look at it and think it’s only three weeks into the season, but we’ve been through a lot in the last six or seven weeks, including the Premier Sports Cup and pre-season.

“We’ve not been able to take guys out and give them the rest.”

Luckily for Murray and his squad, Greenock Morton are not in action until August 22, giving them some much needed time to recover and reset.

The Ton return against Arbroath, who are also yet to win either of their opening two Scottish Championship fixtures.