Lacklustre Ton

While having the bulk of the play, there was a decided lack of sharpness to the home side's play, summed up by manager James Grady in the aftermath.

He said: "We said to the players at half-time - yes we were keeping the ball, but we weren't doing it with any real urgency, any real tempo.

"For us to break down teams we've got to pass the ball quicker. It's all right keeping the ball but when you reach the final third you've got to up the tempo with shorter, sharper passes.

"But again, you need your strikers to hold up the ball and today they didn't do it which wasn't pleasing.

"We probably had more chances - I know their boy had the chance at the end where big Colin Stewart saved us again for the second week in a row.

"But I said to the boys that we can't rely on that every week. Big 'Shadow' makes the save and we get another crack at it.

"That's the only positive we can take out of today - that we get another crack at it.

"The strikers have been taking plaudits for scoring goals the past couple of weeks but today we needed our strikers to be better than that.

"Our whole game plan is about our strikers doing the right things for us and it affected the game, basically.

"But credit to Dumbarton. They worked very hard. They make themselevs very hard to beat in terms of getting behind the ball but I still believe we should have had enough in our dressing room to go and win the game." Morton had a strong penalty claim denied with seven minutes left on the clock when skipper Stewart Greacen was tumbled in the box by Sons goalkeeper Vojacek.

Asked about it, Grady replied: "We're getting contrasting reports. The referee said he didn't see it. The linesman said the goalkeeper got a slight skiff on it [the ball]. Then it should be a corner.

"But then the linesman is telling another player that it hit off Greacen.

"So if he's going to make the decisions, please have the same story for different players.

"But it would have been a bit unjust possibly on Dumbarton if we had got the penalty.

"But I don't think they did enough to win the game and I certainly don't think we did enough to win it.

"As I say, the only plus is that we're still in the hat and we can go there next week and hopefully get a result then." Sons boss Jim Chapman was delighted to be able to take the tie back to his own ground and said: "We know we can play better, but sometimes you've got to do the dirty side of the game and we did that excellently today.

"Morton are a good, strong, physical side, but with a wee bit of luck we maybe could have won it at the end.

"We've got to add a wee bit more belief for the replay and we're certainly not out of it.

"We fought hard, we worked hard. We know we can play better, but credit to Morton - they're a good side. They put us under immense pressure, but my players stood up to the pressure.

"We defended really well, and we had to at times. Morton will probably go away thinking they maybe should have got it. They had more of the play, but we did the negative side really well.

"We maybe had the better clear-cut chances - one Scott [Chaplain] had and the one wee Derek [Carcary] got at the end. He maybe needs a wee bit of shooting practice.

"But we've got a wee bit of added belief now for the next tie."