MORTON skipper Mark McLaughlin roared a revealing late rallying cry to his team-mates with 20 minutes to go on Saturday.

"We'll need to lift this Morton, this is rubbish!" the veteran defender growled, with a few choice expletives thrown in, to a round of applause from the home crowd with whom his words resonated.

He had a point. Up until that stage Morton had lacked conviction as they huffed and puffed without threatening to blow down Hamilton Accies defensive wall.

They did rise to their captain's call in the final quarter of an hour, but it was not enough to break Accies' stubborn resistance and preserve an unbeaten run which had stretched to eight games.

That streak was sparked by a disappointing home defeat to Falkirk almost three months ago. On Saturday, the sequence ended with a similarly frustrating Cappielow reverse to Hamilton.

This time the defeat was unexpected, however. Billy Reid's struggling side sat second bottom of the First Division table with just one win to their name prior to kick-off.

But they doubled that tally thanks to Stevie May's solitary strike. With his long, flowing mane and hairband, May bore a striking resemblance to a Ton cult hero who was, coincidentally, in attendance.

Flying Finn Marko Rajamaki was a guest of chairman Douglas Rae who paraded the current TPS Turku manager on the pitch before kick-off to a warm reception from the Ton support.

But the spirit and flair of the former Finland international was embodied not by his successors in a Ton shirt on the day but lookalike May.

The St Johnstone loanee would prove a real handful for the home defence all afternoon and served a sixth-minute notice of his intentions.

Teenage right-back Ziggy Gordon slipped the ball inside to the lively frontman, and he needed no invitation to let fly with a rising drive which narrowly cleared the crossbar.

Morton's reply was instant. From the resultant goal-kick, Derek Gaston sent a mammoth clearance down field. Peter Weatherson won the header and glanced on into Archie Campbell's path.

The current Irn-Bru Player of the Month managed to round Hamilton's ex-Ton keeper Kevin Cuthbert but slipped at the inopportune moment and hooked harmlessly wide on his way down.

Morton were bossing the game. Hamilton, meanwhile, were content to sit deep, defend and then use the pace and exuberance of their youthful side, average age just under 22, to hit on the counter.

The visitors' game plan was ably assisted by the fact they managed to open the scoring. And it was no surprise that it was that man May who found the net.

Jon Routledge advanced down the right on 21 minutes and passed inside to May lurking just outside the box.

The 20-year-old shifted the ball across Kevin Rutkiewicz who lost his footing while attempting to readjust.

The slip proved crucial as it opened up the space needed for May to rifle a left-footed drive past Gaston and into the bottom right-hand corner.

From then on in, the visitors worked to suffocate and frustrate Ton, for which their 4-1-4-1 formation was ideally suited.

They set-up with central defender Michael Devlin playing as a screening midfielder while widemen Ryan Finnie, a right-back by trade, and Louis Longridge were tasked with colluding with their full-backs to contain Ton's threat down the flanks.

After the match, Accies boss Reid revealed he had identified Morton's width as their most potent attacking weapon.

His system worked to neutralise that threat, in particular the forward runs of flying full-back Scott Taggart, who was stifled by the system.

It was working perfectly as it was hard to see where a Morton equaliser would come from for long spells.

As a result, most of their best work was channelled through Michael Tidser. The midfield playmaker attempted to pick the Accies lock with incisive slide-rule passes for O'Brien.

But on both occasions Gordon recovered to make impressive goal-saving tackles. Tidser then took it upon himself to fashion a fantastic opportunity on 31 minutes.

He bamboozled Gordon by twisting and turning to manufacture the yard of space needed to find Weatherson with a front post cross. Weatherson stooped to glance a header towards goal from eight yards but failed to get enough on the ball and watched in horror as it flashed wide of the upright.

He almost redeemed himself two minutes later when he head-flicked Taggart's free-kick from the right towards goal. The ball deflected off Devlin and looked destined for the net until Cuthbert sprung to his left to claw behind for a corner.

That was as good as it got in the first half. The feeling seemed to be that Moore might have been tempted to change things at the break.

Tony Wallace and Kyle Wilkie, both rewarded with starts for impressive reserve displays, were struggling to make an impact - but the Ton boss elected to persevere, with a switch from white to blue shorts due to a clash the only adjustment.

Ton created the first opening of the second half but Weatherson dragged a left-foot shot wide from an almost identical position to where May had earlier found the net.

Besides this, the Morton front pairing were rarely given a sniff due in no small part to the tight attentions of Accies centre-half pairing of Martin Canning and Motherwell loanee Jonathan Page.

Campbell, in particular, was coming in for some rough treatment from Canning, which eventually earned the experienced defender a booking in the 49th minute.

Rookie referee Paul Robertson, 27 - handling his first match at First Division level - flashed the yellow card after Canning had steamed through the back of Campbell.

Canning had committed an identical foul in the first half and was fortunate to find himself still on the park.

Wallace was next to find his name in the book for a cynical but necessary pull on May to halt a Hamilton breakaway immediately following a Ton corner.

Besides those occasional attempts to counter, Hamilton offered little in an attacking sense over the 90 minutes.

Yet they came within a top-drawer save of stretching their lead on 54 minutes when May met Ali Crawford's dangerous free-kick from the right with a strong header which forced Gaston to stretch every sinew to tip the ball over.

It wasn't long before Ton got back on the front foot. But as seemed to happen often over the course of the match, whenever they got into promising positions players either slipped over or were found wanting in their decision making.

Whistler Robertson was back in focus on 64 minutes when he flashed a yellow card at Campbell after he had kicked out at Canning as he attempted to let the ball run out of for a goal kick.

It was a rare moment of passion in what was a flat Ton performance. Moore moved to lift things by replacing Wallace with David Graham shortly after putting Martin Hardie on in place of Wilkie.

The effect wasn't instant, however, as evidenced by McLaughlin's demand for his team-mates to raise their game. The real change came when Moore tinkered with his tactics on 73 minutes.

It was then he instructed his team to play with three at the back and for Taggart to push on and play wide on the right.

This had the desired effect as Ton upped the tempo and began attacking with purpose, with Taggart and sub Graham getting particular joy down the right.

On 78 minutes, Taggart tested Cuthbert for the first time in what seemed an age when he strode on to a Tidser pass and fired off a stinging drive which the Hamilton custodian did well to beat away.

He was motoring now, and picked out Weatherson with a precise cutback after collecting a neat Campbell backheel and charging to the bye-line.

Weatherson's technique was flawless as he arched back to meet the ball with a hooked volley. The accuracy of the finish wasn't, however, and the ball flashed wide of the right-hand post.

On the opposite side, O'Brien cut in off the left flank and wriggled his way into the box, but he too fired past the post with a strike that was always swinging away from goal.

Tidser worked two injury time opportunities for himself but could not find a way past Cuthbert, and try as they might, Ton could not find the goal needed to preserve their unbeaten run.

Now that sequence is over, a less flattering statistic has emerged with Morton having gone four matches without recording a victory.

It is imperative that they find that winning habit again by defeating Albion Rovers in tomorrow night's Scottish Cup replay at Cappielow to quickly put that unwanted run to bed and prevent a malaise replacing the current feel-good factor.