RUSSELL MCLEAN believes Montrose have ‘nothing to fear’ from Saturday’s showdown with Morton as they bid to make it third time lucky in the Championship play-offs.
Striker McLean was outstanding for the Angus side as they beat champions Partick Thistle 3-2 to clinch their third play-off place in four years – bidding to join local rivals Arbroath in Scottish football’s second tier.
The Links Park side now face Morton in the semi-final tie, starting with the home leg at Links Park on Saturday.
The winners will face either Cove Rangers or Airdrieonians bidding to book a place in next season’s Championship.
It’s the third successive season Montrose have finished fourth in League One but they were denied the play-offs last term due to the Covid-19 shutdown.
With previous play-off losses to Peterhead and Queen of the South in their minds, Montrose are determined to go all the way this time round.
Confidence
“Morton are on a bad run. They have finished ninth for a reason and will be low in confidence while we are high in confidence so why not?
“There’s not reason why we can’t succeed in the play-offs,” said McLean. “We all believe we can do it and there’s no point in thinking otherwise or it won’t happen.
“Why can’t we do it? Why not?
“We played Queen of the South two years ago and beat them here. We fell short down in Dumfries but still showed we could compete.
“Morton are on a bad run. They have finished ninth for a reason and will be low in confidence while we are high in confidence so why not?
“If we get through that tie then we are looking at Cove or Airdrieonians and we’ve beaten both of them in the league this year already.
“You could argue that both this year and last year we got stopped in our tracks by the shutdown.
“I’m not saying we were going to win the league but when football was stopped this year we were in the midst of a good run and it was the same last year.
“Given the teams that are in this league – full-time teams like Partick and Falkirk and teams like Airdrieonians or Cove it is some achievement to finish fourth.”
OUR NEXT MATCH!!
In the immortal words of Sir Isaac Newton
'Whit a buzz m8'
We're in the playoffs!
🆚 @Morton_FC
🏆 @spfl Championship Playoff Semi-Final – First Leg
🗓️ Saturday 8th May
🕒 3pm
🏟️ Links Park
📺 https://t.co/NaGVMN7ewV
💷 £12 / FREE FOR SEASON TICKET HOLDERS— Montrose FC (@MontroseFC) May 5, 2021
Montrose fully merit their place in the top four after a superb display against Partick.
They showed real determination to take the game to Jags and were ahead twice through Martin Rennie and Russell McLean before on-loan St Johnstone star Cammy Ballantyne got an 87th minute winner.
The favour they needed from Airdrieonians also came late with their League One rivals netting twice in the final three minutes at home to Falkirk to help Montrose nick fourth place.
It was a dramatic end to the season but Montrose manager Stewart Petrie is determined his side will do more than make up the numbers when Morton travel to Links Park.
“We’ll enjoy it,” said Petrie. “We’ve said all along ‘let’s go and enjoy ourselves.’
“It’s a privilege to be playing football and it’s even better for our guys to be playing when we’ve got something to play for.
“Every year for the past few seasons we’ve had a challenge. We’ve won a championship and played in play-offs and it’s great for my players.
“These are the games you want to be involved in – whether you are 17 or 18 like young Chris Mochrie or whether you are 37 or however old Sean Dillon is.
Justice
“We haven’t done ourselves justice in the last couple of play-offs against Peterhead and Queen of the South.
“Stephen Dobbie caught us out in the first 20 minutes of the game in Dumfries but we will get as ready as we can for Saturday.
“We will go in as massive underdogs. We are up against a full-time team from the Championship but with the attitude my players have we’ll certainly give it a go.”
