MORTON find themselves the laughing stock of Scottish football today after a disgraceful and scarcely believable 10-2 humiliation by Hamilton Accies on Saturday.

That is not a typo. The Cappielow club really did ship 10 goals - yes TEN - in a league match against opposition playing full-time football in the same division.

Prior to the weekend, a group of players representing Morton had conceded 10 goals over the course of a single match just twice in the club’s 140 years of existence.

Over a century of professional football in this town - 3,894 league matches alone before Saturday - and the club had been hit for double figures just twice.

Let that sink in for a moment.

The first occasion was on 5 May 1894 when local rivals Port Glasgow Athletic won 10-1 at their Clune Park ground in an old Second Division fixture.

The sport itself was still in its infancy; Morton Football Club was just two decades old, and the Scottish second tier they were participating in was in its inaugural season.

Over 39 years passed before they suffered the same scoreline again, when, on 13 October 1933, they went down by 10 goals to one away at Edinburgh-based St Bernard’s.

In those days, clubs were solely focused on attacking football. Teams were set out in loose formations heavily weighted towards the frontline, with the 2-3-5 the prevailing system.

But on this, the final day of the 2013/14 season – in a climate when much recent debate has focused on teams such as Chelsea ‘parking the bus’ – Morton once again saw their goal breached 10 times.

Dougie Imrie’s second strike was all that prevented the current crop matching an ignominious record that has lasted 120 years.

However, losing 10 goals in the modern day must be considered a more deplorable result despite not going down in the history books as the official record defeat.

It was a real shock to the system, coming as it did on the heels of a run of three wins, one draw and one defeat in the last five fixtures.

Shiels actually started with the exact same starting XI which had frustrated Falkirk in their previous outing and a side just one player removed from the one which devastated Dundee the week before.

But it was clear by the seventh minute that it was merely the same side in body and not spirit as they all but flew the white flag from kick-off.

With four minutes gone, Michael Antoine-Curier shook off Darren Cole with ease and stooped to head Grant Gillespie’s drilled corner past Nicolas Caraux at his near post.

Cole was culpable again moments later, allowing Louis Longridge to breeze past him inside the box and pull back for Andy Ryan to stab towards goal from eight yards.

It was a harmless effort, but before Caraux could collect, his compatriot Tony Andreu nipped in ahead of him to sweep into the net.

It looked as though Ton might make a fight of it when Imrie halved the deficit with a fine finish on 22 minutes.

Cole made a positive contribution on this occasion, heading a Barrie McKay free-kick down into his captain’s path.

Handily placed in space on the edge of the box, Imrie lashed a fantastic first-time half volley into the top left-corner.

It was his 10th goal of the season and the first time the 30-year-old had managed this feat in his career, but he refused to celebrate out of respect for his former club.

At this stage Morton were on top and the travelling support began to mock the home fans as news filtered through that Dundee had taken the lead against Dumbarton.

“There’s only one Paul Hartley!” they chanted about their former loan star, who coincidentally would come out in stinging condemnation of their side’s ‘amateur’ performance later in the day.

The Accies support came back with: “There’s only one Allan Moore!” and “Relegation, relegation” - and they were soon back celebrating when Andreu got the ball rolling again on 32 minutes.

Longridge skipped away from David Robertson inside the box this time and floated over a cross which Stuart Findlay headed clear on the stretch.

The teenager’s touch only succeeded in flicking the ball out as far as Andreu, and the midfielder made no mistake, slamming into the bottom-right corner with his left foot.

After playing a key role in the second and third goals, Longridge himself made it four two minutes later with a placed effort from 20 yards. It was one Caraux really should have saved, and he was left picking the ball out of his net again on the stroke of half-time after Andreu sent him the wrong way with a penalty to complete his hat-trick.

After gifting Accies that spot-kick before the break with a blatant hand ball, Vine blew the opportunity to convert one at the opposite end two minutes after the restart.

Skipper Imrie was felled by goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert as he drove past the ex-Ton goalkeeper on his way to the bye-line.

Despite scoring three penalties this term, including the pressure-filled extra-time winner against Celtic, Imrie saw the ball ripped out his grasp by Vine.

The Englishman’s weak, side-footed spot-kick was smothered by Cuthbert, who guessed correctly by diving low to his left.

Shiels brought on Archie Campbell and went to a 4-4-2 formation on 52 minutes as he looked to reduce the 5-1 deficit rather than attempt to prevent more going in at the other end.

The change did not have the desired effect and Ton conceded a sixth shortly afterwards when Antoine-Curier tapped home following good work down the right by Gillespie and Andreu.

On 68 minutes, defender Mikey Devlin easily rose above Thomas O’Ware to guide a Gillespie corner back across goal and into top left corner.

Imrie scored his second of the afternoon with an acrobatic swinging side volley from Vine’s pass from the right to reduce the scoreline to 7-2.

But the hosts continued to rack up the goals, with Antoine-Curier scoring twice, taking his own tally to four, either side of a Stuart Findlay own goal in the final 12 minutes.

The Guadeloupean striker went criminally unchecked as he swept Ziggy Gordon’s angled cross into the net on 78 minutes and then sub Paul George’s square ball from the right on 86 minutes.

In between times, Celtic loanee Findlay only succeeded in turning a Gillespie low centre into his own net with his attempt to slide in and cut the ball out.

Despite equalling their record win, a 10-2 victory over Cowdenbeath in October 1932, Hamilton’s efforts proved to be in vain after Dundee beat Dumbarton 2-1 to claim the title. For Morton, it would have been an ignominious result no matter what competition it was played in or where they were in their respective league at the time.

But the pain was compounded by the fact it had come at the end of a season which has seen them relegated by finishing a full 14 points behind two part-time teams in Alloa and Cowdenbeath.

Any and all goodwill or optimism, no matter how meagre, built up over the recent run of positive results was well and truly erased at New Douglas Park.

It truly was a pitiful end to a pitiful campaign and although Shiels was recently confirmed as the man who would lead the Ton in League One next year, that must now be in real doubt once again.