MORTON gaffer Gus MacPherson has blasted his defence after their poor decision-making against Inverness stretched their winless run to seven games and piled more pressure on his side.

The defeat means that Ton are second bottom of the league after five losses, and the manager believes that his side gifted Billy Dodds’ men three points.

Morton have won only once on the road this season and MacPherson has warned his players that they must improve defensively if they are to put a halt to their miserable form away from home.

He told the Tele: “We did create chances against Inverness, it just so happens that we didn't take them.

“It’s just been that little bit that’s been lacking in order to give us some belief.

“We’ve played some decent stuff in periods of the game but in the key moments we’ve let ourselves down.

“We gave Inverness the lead and they didn't need to work hard for that. It was a straight ball up the park that we didn’t deal with.

“After they went ahead we reacted to that. It was the second half and the manner in which we lost the goal and then how we failed to react to going 2-0 down that was the disappointing thing for me.

“It was a sucker punch for us to concede so early on in the second half and we had warned against it.

“We made a poor decision when we’re in possession of the ball and we then didn't clear our lines.

“It became a game of pinball in our penalty box and we had two opportunities to clear and get us out of our situation.

“Good defenders know when to defend and make good decisions, that’s the difference.

“If you want to play higher up in your career then you need to make the correct decisions in the correct moments and we simply didn’t do that."

With Ton trailing 2-0, striker Gary Oliver missed a glorious second-half chance to give the visitors a lifeline.

The Morton manager believes that the missed opportunity summed up their second-half performance in what was a miserable Highland showing for the Greenock men.

MacPherson said: “I think Gary Oliver’s chance just typified our second-half performance.

“It wasn’t the first half or the afternoon, the manner of that miss just typified the second half.

“It was a great effort from Reece Lyon and the 'keeper has spilled it and I know that normally Gary would’ve scored that.

“It would’ve given us a lifeline. It's just one of those things that’s being thrown our way at the minute."

MacPherson insists that things need to improve defensively if they are to have any chance of having a successful season.

He added: “The away run is part and parcel of it. It does just sum up the competitive nature of this league and if you want to do well and stay in this league then we need to start picking up points away from home, it’s as simple as that.

“You won’t pick up points if you defend in the manner that we did at the weekend and it’s something that needs to improve.”