RICKI Lamie admits he left Tannadice on Saturday frustrated with himself after his side squandered a point towards the end following some sloppy defending.

Morton seemingly had a deserved draw in the bag when sub Bob McHugh poked home an equaliser from a Lamie knock-down after James Keatings had originally given the Terrors the lead.

But a lapse in concentration seven minutes from time allowed veteran poacher Scott McDonald to win the game for the hosts and consign Ton to their first defeat in three.

Lamie was irritated by how easily Ton were cut open at times, albeit by an admittedly formidable front-line in McDonald and Keatings. 

But the defender is not in the mood for making any excuses and insists he and his defensive partners should have dealt with the United attack better.

He told the Tele: “There were wee moments against Dundee United where we looked a bit more open than we have looked in the past few weeks.

“I was personally disappointed with some of my own defensive play.

“Dundee United were putting together some good attacking moves that we had dealt with quite well, so to keep that under wraps for the best part was almost testament to how we defended for most of the game.

“Their main strength I think is their attack. They’ve got guys like Scott McDonald, James Keatings, Paul McMullan and then Billy King on the other side.

“I always look back on the goals and the action and for the second goal it was very frustrating that we’ve dealt with the corner. 

“The ball came back out, it went back into the box and eventually McDonald found the space to tap it in. Their first goal was a good wee bit of link-up that Derek Gaston was unlucky not to keep out, he got a touch on it.

“They were disappointing goals to lose because they’re scrappy. Especially the second coming back off the post and falling to one of their players. 

“On another day it might fall to us and we clear it.

“There were also plenty of chances that they had where we probably should’ve been better defensively, and we rode our luck once or twice.”

Lamie reckons Morton were unlucky not to hold out for a point, but insists if they can continue to work as hard as they did at Tannadice, they can get back on track.

He added: “To come away with nothing when we’ve put in a shift against Dundee United is obviously really disappointing. 

“But if we can keep that work rate from the last two or three weeks I’m sure we’ll be okay in the next few games.”