Morton 1 DUNFERMLINE 2 (Morton: McGuffie 54; Dunfermline: Kirk 70, Mason 77) MORTON boss James Grady was as disappointed as he has been after this defeat at Cappielow on Saturday.

After praising his players for their last three performances, he said: "I don't know the reasons for it. The performance from start to finish was unacceptable.

"They [the players] have been given loads of plaudits for the previous three games. I asked them to do the same things today, and they never did any of them.

"Dominic Shimmin is maybe out of the equation - the rest, not good enough." Asked about goalkepeer Colin Stewart, who made some good saves but was involved in the lead-up to the second goal, Grady said: "When he goes out that far he has to make sure the danger is away.

"It's a sore one in that they got a goal from that, but the way we played today we didn't deserve anything.

"We were fortunate to go one up and, even then, we knew we were up against it. The galling fact for me is that I think we got bullied a wee bit today. They started with a three [in centre midfield]. It wasn't working with our tight four. We changed it to match up.

"I don't know if the players didn't understand it, but what is there to understand?

"The thing with Allan [McManus] and me is that we believe we keep getting these false dawns." "Do they [the players] start believing they're better than they are? Then you come down with a bump.

"We've always said if we don't work really hard in a game to earn the right to play, then we're an average side.

"Today we were below average. We didn't work hard enough anywhere on the pitch. A couple of boys came in to try and earn the right to play. They didn't do it, so Allan and I will look at it overnight.

"We'll come in and talk about it. The players have got licence to come and say what they thought about it and we'll take it from there.

"It's not a sore one to take, because we deserved to get beat. The commitment, the desire, the hunger that was there in the three previous games wasn't there today." "We need to make sure it's not the fact that they're scared possibly to play at home. Is it a mental thing? That's what we need to look at.

"Looking at the positive side of things, it's only three points. It's a rude awakening for some of them.

"The most important thing now is the Inverness game on Tuesday." For Pars boss Jim McIntyre there was an equal and oppositive reaction.

He said: "It was a very good win. I thought we were excellent in the first half. We just didn't have a final product. The final ball was letting us down again.

"We got into some great positions and never capitalised. The keeper's had some great saves.

"Morton made a change to try and get themselves back in the game. The second half I thought they started brighter, but we started to pass the ball again. We made a change and got two up top, and brought another wide man on and tried to win the game.

"I thought Gary Mason was great today, breaking up the play, doing a lot of unseen work that professional people in the game appreciate.

"Steven Bell for me was man of the match. He was everywhere and led by example. I'm delighted for him.

"But we had 11 players keen to make amends for last week's poor performance against Ayr."