DAVID Hopkin has blasted his side’s schoolboy defending after Morton suffered a damaging defeat at the hands of Partick Thistle.

The Ton gaffer was left lamenting individual errors that saw Alex Jones score the opener unmarked in the box and ex-Ton skipper Thomas O’Ware to run across several men to poke the ball home at the front post from a corner.

He admitted that his players are doing themselves no favours after their latest defeat saw them drop back down to ninth in the Championship, only two points ahead of bottom side Alloa.

He told the Tele: “I’m disappointed because we gave away two sloppy goals.

“We seem to shoot ourselves in the foot every week and when we do that, we do it really poorly and it just gets worse.

“The first goal is schoolboy stuff, letting the ball come into the box like that, then the second goal is just unbelievable with us conceding from a corner.

“It’s a poor ball in, we’ve got six men in front of it and yet they still somehow manage to squeeze the ball over the line.

“We created numerous chances, but as I’ve said it’s one of these games where I’d have taken a point.

“Ian McCall has come and played a different style from what he normally has and it’s difficult all round for us.

“It’s really disappointing because it’s not as if anyone is cutting us open, it’s always individual errors.”

Hopkin insists that he can turn things around in what is a tight league and has called for fans to look at other teams in and around them.

He has urged his players to regain some composure in front of goal ahead of a big few weeks for the Ton John Sutton’s gilt-edged miss in the first half.

He said: “We knew it was going to be a tough league. You have to look at Partick Thistle’s squad, they’re nearly all premier league players and they’re down near the bottom with us.

“We know we’re in a transitional period with bringing young players on board but it’s individual errors that are costing us at this moment in time and that’s what it was on Saturday.

“I don’t think Danny has had a save to make apart from the times he had to pick the ball up out of his net.

“Even in the first half when John was through on the goalkeeper, you’re looking for somebody with his experience to show a bit of composure to go around him and slot the ball into an empty net.

“We huffed and puffed, it was a battle but we need to cut out those errors.”