MORTON captain Thomas O’Ware admits his side face an uphill battle to reach the play-offs after losing to Livingston on Saturday.

The Ton are two points behind Dundee United, who have a game in hand on the Greenock side, while Dunfermline moved five points ahead in third after beating Falkirk 2-1, albeit they have played a game more.

It means Morton’s fate is no longer in their own hands after picking up only one win in their last seven games.

And the captain hopes history doesn’t repeat itself, after ending last season in poor form.

O’Ware said: “It happened to us last year as well, we died a death and we’ve let ourselves down again. It’s not through lack of attitude, we battled with them.

“We know what Livi do, they come at you with long balls and you’ve got to deal with them. You can’t say it’s not the right way to play as it’s worked well. 

“A couple of weeks ago we gave ourselves a good chance of finishing in the play-offs but obviously since then we need Dunfermline and Dundee United to slip up and for us to start winning.”

O’Ware had given the Ton the lead at the Tony Macaroni Arena, scoring his fourth goal of the campaign.

But Livi levelled via Jackson Longridge on 35 minutes, and the hosts went into the lead when Alan Lithgow headed home from a corner before Ricki Lamie slammed home an equaliser.

The Ton looked like they were on course for a point, but another goal from Lithgow sealed the points for the West Lothian side.

All three goals Morton conceded at the weekend were from set-pieces, two from corners and one from a long throw-in.

O’Ware was disappointed with the manner in which Morton let in the three goals, but also critical of the referee in the build-up to Livingston’s third.

He added: “I thought in the first half we were comfortable, we lost a soft goal and then in the second we go and concede from a set-piece again. 

“We managed to get ourselves level and I thought we were on the front foot.

“It’s disappointing, the first one is unlucky, Ricki [Lamie] has done well, he tries to clear it and it’s hit a divot, there’s nothing you can do about that. 

“In the set-pieces were weren’t good enough.

“I don’t know what the ref’s done for the third goal. He’s given a corner, I’ve not touched it, it goes for out for another corner which isn’t a corner, it’s clearly hit a Livingston player’s head, he clearly heads it.

“We should have dealt with it better but for that five minutes I think the ref has had a shocker. 

“But it’s not good enough from us, we’ve given ourselves a massive challenge now.”