MORTON manager Jonatan Johansson admitted a last gasp goal by Inverness Caley Thistle last night was ‘tough to take’ as their Championship survival hopes were damaged.

The visitors took the lead at Cappielow via a brilliant solo goal from Anthony McDonald, but the Ton bounced back thanks to a fine strike from Reece Lyon and a Greg Kiltie penalty.

The Ton looked to be heading towards their first win in seven games, but the Caley Jags struck late on through Darren McCauley.

The draw means Morton are still in danger of going down, sitting in seventh just above the relegation zone, and are only two points above Falkirk and Queen of the South, and three ahead of Partick Thistle, who have a game in hand.

A victory would have relieved a lot of pressure on the Greenock side but, with three games to go, the Ton’s next match against Falkirk on Saturday becomes a huge clash in the outcome of their season.

Johansson was gutted after the draw, admitting his side should have killed the game off earlier.

He told the Tele: “It’s tough to take. I was very pleased with the performance, I’m gutted for the players because they fought so hard – every one of them.

“I can’t fault any of them, but I felt we should have killed the game off.

“We had so many counter attacking chances, we tried to pick the perfect pass and went behind.

“To lose a goal that late and from a cross is disappointing as well, but that’s football.

“I said to the boys that they have to forget about it, there’s only three games left and another massive game on Saturday.

“It was harsh on us to go 1-0 down, it’s a great goal from their player but I felt we were on top and created chances as well. The keeper had a couple of good saves also.

“We showed great character, bravery and we could have easily hung our heads with the position we’ve been in, we got the lead and lost a late goal, it’s a tough one.”

The Ton sat back in the second half as Inverness pushed higher up the park in search of an equaliser.

The Cappielow boss also revealed several substitutions had to be made, with goalscorer Greg Kiltie being sick at half-time playing on for as long as he could.

Johansson added: “They put their full-backs higher up the pitch and they put an extra striker up top.

“Their directness meant we needed an extra man in midfield to compete for the balls, but we had a lot of tired legs.

“Gary Oliver hasn’t played much, he came back from injury quite recently and Greg’s been playing a lot of games and he was throwing up at half-time.

“We needed to freshen it up and I felt with them leaving their half empty we had someone like Andy [Dallas] to run up and catch it and unfortunately we tried to be too neat at times where we needed to be more direct.

“The players’ commitment was fantastic and their workrate also. It’s really hard to take and it’s one of those ones where you will be up all night thinking about it, but we just have to start again.

“I’ve been in this position before as a player but you have to believe.”