MORTON boss David Hopkin was left to rue his side's defensive collapse in Kirkaldy after they fell to a thumping five-goal defeat to Raith Rovers.

Goals from Dan Armstrong, Frankie Musonda, Fernandy Mendy and a Ross Matthews brace saw a rampant Rovers coast to victory.

Jim McAlister was shown a straight red card for a late lung on Armstrong but Hopkin says the club will consider appealing the decision against the Ton captain.

Hopkin was disappointed that all the hard work that has been put in on the training ground to improve the defensive shape had gone to waste in the space of 90 minutes.

He told the Tele: “It was an uphill struggle for us but I also thought that decisions didn’t go our way.

“I thought that for the penalty, young Lewis [Strapp] was getting back up and into position and the referee has given a penalty.

“For the second goal, we’ve switched off from a corner which isn’t good enough, the ball comes in to where I’ve got three centre-halves and the boy manages to flick the ball into the net unmarked.

“Just before half-time we had a couple of chances to bring the game back to 2-1, but we weren’t able to take them and then obviously we get the red card and Jim is sent off.

"I thought that we could’ve held on a bit longer after half-time, but they’ve gone and scored three minutes into the second half and it’s put the game to bed.

"It was always going to be difficult when you’re playing away from home, especially when you’ve got 10 men and against a side full of confidence.

“I think they only scored one goal that properly cut us open, the rest of them were avoidable.

“Regan Hendry has slipped in a great ball to Matthews who’s gone on to score their fourth.

“I think that we could’ve dealt with the rest of them a lot better, but it’s one of these things that we need to put to bed because we’ve got the Betfred Cup games coming up and a few weeks’ break from the league.

“It was a decent game even though we were beaten 5-0 - but I just think that we need to be better defensively which we had been up until today.”

Hopkin defended skipper McAlister after being shown a red card midway through the first half.

He believes that whistler Willie Collum let similar challenges off lightly later on in the game.

He said: “It was disappointing to lose Jim because we knew it was going to be even more of an uphill battle from there.

“He’s made his feelings known as he’s come off the park as well.

“I think he’s gone to win the ball and then tried to pull out when he’s realised that he’s not going to make it.

“I’d need to see it back but I think that there were similar tackles that didn’t get the same punishment, they either got a talking to or a yellow card.

“I thought that he’s gone for it and tried to pull out of it but we’ll have a look at it and see if we can appeal it."