FRUSTRATED Morton manager Jim Duffy blamed a lack of quality in the final third for Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Ayr United.

The Cappielow club drew a blank for only the second time this term, with their other failure to score also coming against the Honest Men back in the opening-day defeat at Somerset Park.

Duffy did not believe his side deserved to lose their rematch with Mark Roberts’ men at the weekend and insisted the match was an even contest.

Reflecting on the reasons for the defeat, the Ton boss told the Tele it was down to ineffectual attacking play caused by poor decision making.

He said: “Obviously I’m bitterly disappointed.

“There wasn’t much in it and I didn’t think it was the greatest match.

“There wasn’t much space to play in and we were poor in the final third. We didn’t make the right choices.

“In a game that’s tight, you’re not going to get many chances. These are the games you’re only going to get two or three opportunities and you’ve got to take at least one of them.

“There weren’t too many chances for either team and I felt that we lost a goal that was a certainly avoidable.

“The goalkeepers weren’t called into question too often, although Derek [Gaston] made a fantastic save early on and David Hutton had that one from Andy [Barrowman].

“Other than those there wasn’t much else and I was just disappointed with our final third. We were poor: poor in our crossing, poor in our final ball, poor in our decision making.

“There was a lot of huffing and puffing and effort and endeavour but a lack of quality in terms of linking up the play.

“You’ve got to have better attacking quality in the final third and for us today that was an area I felt we let ourselves down.

“We didn’t threaten David Hutton enough or test him enough. And that frustrates me because I know the players are better than that and are capable of much more.

“It’s very frustrating because you work on those aspects of the game all week really, in terms of getting the ball down, making passes and better decisions.

“But today there were too many who were making the wrong choices. When it was there to get it down and pass it, they were heading it on or knocking it into channels when we’re saying ‘play it to feet’.

“Unfortunately, the players have to make the decisions by themselves on the pitch and they made some poor ones today.

“But I have to be honest, I don’t think we deserved to lose the match. On the balance of play, we were certainly a side who were trying to get something back from the game.

“We just didn’t manage to take advantage of the few scraps that came our away.

“Take nothing away from Ayr. They made it a tough match. They were very resilient, very organised and didn’t allow us space.”