MORTON manager Ray McKinnon was disappointed with his side’s defending in the second half after losing 3-1 to Ayr United at Somerset Park in the Betfred Cup on Saturday.

The visitors opened the scoring via a clever free-kick by Michael Tidser, below, but three second-half strikes from former Ton striker Lawrence Shankland sealed a comfortable win for the hosts.

The goals Morton conceded involved a variety of errors and mistakes across the backline and the manager says they have plenty to work on in the next few games.

He told the Tele: “It was a game of two halves. 

“With our chances in the first half we could have been out of sight at the start of the second half and then we lost three crazy goals.

“The first one is a free header in the box, the second goal is a cross that everyone just leaves and then the third one is just a clearance over the top.

“I’m disappointed with the second half performance, but it gives us lots of stuff to work on.”

The manager also pointed to a lack of fit players, with goalkeeper Derek Gaston making his way back onto the bench after recovering from a broken wrist and Denny Johnstone and Robert Thomson still sidelined following operations on their knee and groin over the summer respectively.

The manager says he wanted to strengthen the squad further.

The Ton boss admitted it would be unlikely they would be able to add to his side before their next game against Partick Thistle tomorrow.

He added: “I only had 11 or 12 fit players with a couple of kids on the bench.

“I probably won’t be able to strengthen the squad before then, we’ll see how the squad is today in terms of fitness levels and see where we’re at.”

McKinnon’s side looked weary towards the end, with a number of players looking laboured as the game drew to a close.

But the manager was keen to highlight it was still early in the season, and the fitness levels would be likely to improve over the next few weeks, before the league campaign begins at the start of August.

He said: “It was a culmination of things towards the end.

“Lee Kilday hadn’t played for a long time and three or four of them looked a bit tired towards the end and it contributed to a poor performance.

“We lost two cheap goals and it was the first game of the season and their fitness levels will improve, and their game fitness will improve as well.

“But we could have been out of sight in the first half and I’m disappointed to lose the game 3-1.”