GRANT Gillespie has apologised to Morton fans who witnessed his side’s heavy defeat to Partick Thistle at Firhill.

Ton took the lead through a Robbie Muirhead wonder goal but things went downhill from there as the league leaders produced a thumping five-goal display to consign the Greenock side to a third straight league defeat.

The Ton captain insists the performance was unacceptable from everyone involved and has vowed to make amends when they take on Queen's Park at Ochilview tonight.

He told the Tele: "I just hold my hands up and apologise for the performance.

"It was not good enough, from every single one of us. At this level if you come to Firhill and don’t defend your box, and you allow Partick Thistle to win pretty much every single header and first and second balls, then you are going to concede.

"We need to stand up and be counted, and we never did that on Saturday. From that aspect it's bitterly disappointing.

"The fans pay their hard-earned money to come and watch, and for them to sit and watch that is unacceptable.

"They expect a lot more and as a team we do as well. It is about the 11 players on that park to demand more, so we have to dust ourselves down. We have another hard game tonight against Queen's Park, and it is one we will be looking to do better in."

The midfielder says to suffer a heavy defeat after taking an early lead through Muirhead's free-kick made the loss more frustrating.

Gillespie said: "Fair play to Robbie. It was a great free-kick. At that time there was not much in it, so to take the lead was very pleasing, and then we felt we could keep it tight for the next 10-15 minutes and build ourselves back into the game.

"We were doing okay, so there was no reason to panic, but then to lose a goal five minutes after scoring was very disappointing, and the manner of the goals - all five of them - is the biggest disappointment.

"To win games at any level you need to be ruthless, and on Saturday we weren’t."

Gillespie insists there must be a reaction when Morton take on Queen's Park tonight as they look to put an end to their poor run of form.

He said: "We have got to show a reaction, otherwise it could be a long season, and that is just a fact if we don’t improve.

"Our start to the season hasn't been bad but that is three defeats in a row now, so it is up to us to regroup and see where we went wrong.

"Defending our box was key on Saturday and we failed at that, it is about us going again tonight and rectifying our wrongs and showing a lot more.

"I am an experienced pro so I will try my best to get the boys geed up.

"It is probably a blessing that we have got another game so quickly after Saturday.

"As much as it hurts and we have to go to away and look ourselves in the mirror, we have to forget about it as quickly as possible.

"It is important that we realise where we went wrong, and we move on to Queen's Park."

l Manager Dougie Imrie will have centre-back Jack Baird back available for selection after he missed the weekend’s defeat through suspension.

However, Jai Quitongo will still be absent due to his red card against Arbroath.

It remains to be seen whether defender Alan Lithgow will be fit enough to return to the squad after sitting out the match at Firhill with an injury he picked up in the SPFL Trust Trophy win over Ayr United.