Motherwell, by the narrowest of margins, edged out a gutsy and hardworking Morton to progress to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.
Gus MacPherson’s men, who despite a gruelling programme of matches to conclude the Championship season, more than matched their Premiership opponents for 120 minutes.
Stephen O’Donnell looked to have won the tie with a stunning strike one minute from the end of extra-time. But Morton responded through Markus Fjortoft with the final touch of the game to force the tie to a penalty shoot-out.
That left Motherwell facing Scottish Cup penalties for the second consecutive season but this time all five were emphatically converted by O’Hara, Cole, Long, Hastie and fittingly O’Donnell. Added to Liam Kelly saving from Sean McGinty meant that the Fir Park men were relieved to move into the last eight.
Graham Alexander was forced into one change with Jordan Roberts failing to recover from Saturday’s injury. Barry Maguire came into the midfield with Steven Lawless pushed forward on the right.
With both sides engaged in a relegation battle from their respective leagues, this cup tie afforded the players an opportunity to be a bit more relaxed and focus on claiming a quarter-final place.
Morton have proved to be regular cup opponents for ‘Well and on their last visit to Fir Park in the Scottish Cup nine years ago, ‘Well cruised 6-0 win.
However, from the early moments of this match a repeat of that scoreline was never likely.
As the Championship side started the game on the front foot, Motherwell looked unsettled and failed to find any rhythm in their play. The absence of Roberts as an outball was clear as the ‘Ton defence easily handled any predictable forward movement from the home side.
Despite Morton’s desire to get forward, Liam Kelly was largely untested and limited to distributing the ball from the back.
After 24 minutes the ‘Well ‘keeper was called into action. Reece Lyon skipped past a couple of challenges on his way into the box but Kelly advanced to block the strikers shot.
That gave the home side a much-needed jolt and ten minutes later were presented with their first chance to test Aidan McAdams in the visitor’s goal. Christopher Long’s burst towards the penalty box was halted by Kyle Jacobs.
From the resultant free-kick, Allan Campbell rolled the ball back to Maguire, who teed himself up before blasting his half volley off the defensive ball.
For the final 10 minutes of the half Motherwell kept Morton in their own half and a couple of chances fell Devante Cole, who fired over and just wide as the Fir Park men finished the half looking more like themselves.
The manager’s half-time message was clear within two minutes of the restart when Long collected a pass from Cole at the edge of the box before firing a low shot which forced McAdams into his first save.
As the home side upped the tempo, Stephen O’Donnell thundered down the right before hooking a ball into the box. But after taking a touch Cole fired the ball wide of target.
With the game moving into the final 30 minutes the Morton players looked a bit weary as the movement of Long and Cole began to create chances. However, a couple of shots from distance did little to threaten McAdam’s goal.
To their credit the Cappielow men caught a second breath and with 15 minutes remaining they were still very much in the tie and with a chance of causing a cup upset.
With 11 minutes remaining that almost arrived when Michael Ledger directed Aidan Nisbet’s cross towards goal forcing Kelly to make a smart save.
Long immediately replied with a low drive from 20 yards which was comfortably held by McAdams.
A spark was needed to win the tie and ‘Well looked to Jake Hastie who replaced Maguire for the final 10 minutes of regulation time.
With neither team able to break the deadlock the game entered 30 minutes extra time.
With Motherwell pressing their tiring visitors deep into their own half the Steelmen passed up a couple of great chances in the first period of extra-time.
Firstly, Hastie was the provider with a quick burst of pace and pass to split the defence and set up Long but from an angle he drove his shot off the foot of the post.
Then Campbell chipped a delightful pass into Hastie’s path but having raced beyond the defence he blasted his shot past the post when he should have least hit the target.
With Morton players falling on tired legs they looked relieved to get into the second period of extra-time on level terms.
And as the tie drifted towards a penalty decider both teams had great chances to clinch the tie.
The first came Morton’s way with six minutes remaining when Craig McGuffie’s header drifted across an open goal as Kelly left his line to claim the ball.
A minute later the Cappielow side were extremely lucky to survive strong penalty appeals when Hastie was tripped as he raced across the box.
‘Ton ‘keeper McAdams then produced a fabulous save to claw a header from Steven Lawless off his line and round the post.
With a minute remaining, Motherwell appeared to have come up with a sensational winner. The ball was worked across the field to O’Donnell and from fully 30 yards he hammered a tremendous low drive past the diving McAdams.
However, in a dramatic end, Markus Fjortoft rose unchallenged to head the ball past Kelly for an equaliser that Morton probably deserved and force the game to a penalty finish.
Thankfully for Alexander’s men they showed their cool with five perfectly taken spot kicks.
