JIM McAlister says making his 300th appearance for Morton was a moment to forget after being knocked out of the Scottish Cup by East Fife.

The club captain was named among the substitutes for the first time this season against the League One side. 
The only other game the midfielder has not featured in was the Irn-Bru Cup loss to Dumbarton, where ex-manager Ray McKinnon changed the entire team.

The 33-year-old says manager Jonatan Johansson’s original plan was not to play him at all in the tie and saw it as a possible opportunity to rest him.

He told the Tele: “It’s certainly one I won’t want to remember, that’s for sure.

“The gaffer had spoken to me last week about making some changes and freshening things up, but regardless of that, we should have enough to go and win the tie.

“I’ve played a lot of minutes and I think his plan was to not use me at all, but the way the game went we obviously brought on Charlie [Telfer] and Gary [Oliver] as well to try and get us going.

“Midge [Chris Millar] missed a few games from injury, Tids [Michael Tidser] missed the Partick game, and the manager is trying to rotate players around a bit and it’s a long season, and it takes its toll on the body as well so you can understand what he’s trying to do.”

But the former Dundee and Blackpool player says there are no excuses from his side after defensive lapses cost them a result.

He added: “With absolutely no disrespect to East Fife, we should have enough quality in the team to turn up and do a job on them.

“But yet again it’s the same old story, it was goals that came from either mistakes or switching off. 

“Teams don’t have to seem to cut us open and score a terrific goal against us a lot of the time.

“A lot of the goals we’ve given away recently have been gifted and it’s an uphill battle after that if you’re making silly mistakes.”