MORTON fell at the first hurdle in this season’s Petrofac Training Cup after suffering a disappointing 3-2 home defeat against Dumbarton today.

The Sons surged into the lead in the sixth minute when Grant Gallagher stooped to guide a header beyond Derek Gaston after getting on the end of ex-Ton man Scott Taggart’s cross.

Gallagher doubled his tally on the half hour with an angled drive from inside the box that arrowed into the bottom-left corner.

Ton came into the game without injured pair Frank McKeown and Michael Tidser, who picked up a knee injury in training towards the end of the week.

Michael Miller and Ricki Lamie were suspended for the tie, and Jim Duffy’s selection woes worsened at half-time when crocked defender Thomas O’Ware failed to re-emerge for the second half.

He was replaced by development squad utility man Jordan Cairnie, who had played an hour of last night’s pre-season friendly against Greenock Juniors, in which he scored.

And he was soon joined by Under-20s team-mate Dylan Stevenson when the teenage midfielder came on for crocked playmaker Joe McKee.

Cairnie went into the centre of defence and saw his inexperience exploited by Gary Fleming on 65 minutes.

The Dumbarton No9 pounced on the 19-year-old’s indecision as he attempted to deal with a long ball over the top and stole in to lob the ball over the exposed Gaston.

The game looked dead and buried at 3-0, but the Greenock men made a habit of fighting back from behind last term and staged a comeback in the final 20 minutes.

Lee Kilday pulled one back on 73 minutes by expertly hooking the ball over his shoulder and past Mark Brown after Conor Pepper found him with a dangerous cross from the right.

Skipper Peter MacDonald coolly converted a penalty seven minutes from time to set up a frantic finale which never really materialised.

An experienced Sons side including the likes of former Scotland cap Darren Barr restricted the hosts’ chances and held on to book a deserved spot in the second round.

Morton (4-4-1-1): Gaston; Pepper, Kilday, O’Ware (Cairnie, 46), Russell; Barr, McKee (Stevenson, 59), Forbes, McCluskey; Scullion (Orr, 80); MacDonald ©.

Subs not used: Tennent, Adam (gk).

Dumbarton (4-2-3-1): Brown; Taggart, Buchanan, Barr ©, Waters; Routledge, Lindsay; Cawley, Gallagher (Smith, 70), Gibson; Fleming.

Subs not used: Graham, Miller, McCallum, Hopkins, Adger (gk).

Attendance: 1,418 Referee: Craig Charleston