MIDFIELDER Cameron Blues is adamant that Morton were denied a 'stonewall penalty' in the second half of their narrow defeat against Kilmarnock.

Ton striker Gavin Reilly was upended in the box midway through the second half as Euan Murray went through the back of the striker in the air.

Despite Ton's protests, whistler Gavin Duncan waved play on and Killie went onto win the game through Rory McKenzie's goal.

And Blues believes that the penalty would’ve been given had it been the home side appealing the same incident.

He told the Tele: “It was a bit of a sickener to lose out in the way that we did to a goal like that.

“The shout that Gavin had in the second half where I’d crossed it in, I thought that it was a stonewall penalty.

“I think that Kilmarnock would’ve been given that if it was the other way around.

“I thought that we’d played really well and limited them to very few chances. We’d created a lot of chances ourselves.

“It was a much better reaction to the Partick Thistle game. To come away from home and put in a performance like that is good and we’re happy with the way that we’ve played but you cannot be happy with the performance if you’re not coming away with three points to show for it."

Despite the disappointing result, Blues believes there were plenty of positives to take from their Rugby Park performance, not least frontman Reilly who impressed on his league debut up front alongside Robbie Muirhead.

The midfielder said: “Both Robbie and Gavin looked really good and they both had a few chances fall their way too.

“It’s just been about getting that match sharpness for him and hopefully the goals will come for the both of them.

“Gavin could be a big player going forward for us. He’s scored a lot of goals in this league and he’s a great signing.

“I thought that the new boys who played looked really good.

“They’ve been brilliant in training since they came in with Tom [Allan] and Jaakko [Oksanen] putting a shift in.

“It maybe caught them by surprise as to how quick the game is played up here but they were impressive in the way that they got up to speed that quickly.

“They’ve settled in really well and we just need to move on to the Raith game next week now.”

Blues believes Morton will climb the table once their new signings are firing on all cylinders.

He added: “Gavin was really good as well so it’s just about getting them more games now.

“He’ll work well with big Gozie [Ugwu] when he comes back to full fitness as well.

“So hopefully if the goals come then the results will follow suit.

“The whole Covid situation is frustrating because we seem to get a player back and then we lose another one or someone has to go and isolate – it’s hard for all of the clubs.

“We just need to stick together as a squad and keep grinding things out because it’s going to be a tough old season - but we want to put things right and start getting results.”