MORTON have slipped into the relegation play-offs after failing to get the win they needed tonight against Arbroath to save themselves.

The Greenock men could only draw 0-0 at Gayfield and Ayr United's 2-2 result up at Inverness means Ton end the Championship season in ninth position on goal difference.

This was a turgid 90 minutes which summed up Morton's whole campaign.

They defended stoutly and toiled hard throughout but lacked any semblance of creativity or quality and never remotely looked like adding to their paltry tally of 22 goals scored this season.

All they had to get excited about in the first half was a half-hearted penalty appeal when Gary Oliver felt he had been barged inside the box, but the referee was unmoved.

Local lad Nicky Low fired a shot over the bar the hosts and that was about it in terms of noteworthy action.

All the drama was happening in the Highlands, with Ayr behind in the first few minutes but hitting back to level before the break with a penalty kick.

In the second half, Morton continued to show nothing in an attacking sense but it again looked like Inverness might be about to bail them out when they went 2-1 ahead against United.

A pivotal minute midway through the half decisively turned the tide against Gus MacPherson's men.

While Ayr were equalising in Inverness, Ton skipper Sean McGinty was being sent off for needlessly lunging into a rash challenge near the halfway line.

With Morton down to 10 men what little hope they had of making an impression evaporated and they'll now face the League 1 play-offs.

On tonight's evidence they will face a huge task to survive that shootout, whoever it is against.