MORTON boss Dougie Imrie has slammed referee Alan Muir’s performance after two controversial penalty decisions saw his side's 10-game unbeaten run come to an end against Partick Thistle.

The Ton manager was left baffled by the call to award Partick Thistle a penalty for handball - and then fail to point to the spot in the visitors' favour just two minutes later in his side's defeat at Firhill, with Imrie sent off for his protests on the sidelines.

In an action-packed second half, an Aidan Fitzpatrick attempt was deflected over the Ton crossbar, but much to the surprise of the majority inside the stadium, the referee pointed to the spot as he saw the use of a hand in the penalty area, with the kick being dispatched to give the Jags the lead.

Just moments later, midfielder Robbie Crawford was brought down in the area, but the man in the middle saw nothing wrong with the challenge, sparking fury from Imrie on the sideline.

The 39-year-old admits he couldn’t get his head around some of the decisions, as his side suffered their first league defeat since October 1.

He told the Tele: "The first one for Partick, nobody in the stadium was even looking for a penalty.

"No-one moved, not even their players. Normally if it is a penalty their players go mental, but nothing.

"I actually sat down because I thought it was a corner, then the next thing someone told me it was a penalty. I got told after the game one of my players asked the referee who it was and he said 'I don’t know'.

"We are talking proper football here, we are not talking amateur football.

"It is just incredible, I don’t know what goes on in their heads.

"The second one on us is a stonewaller. I saw it from the stand, I had a perfect view of it, and it is not given, and that is probably where I got sent off from.

"I said a few things, but I don’t know how you get two yellows and a red for the one incident, it is baffling."

The Ton manager says the handball rule needs to be clarified following several controversial penalty decisions in recent weeks.

Imrie said: "The ref can’t tell me who it hit, he said he doesn’t know.

"He tried to say it was Jack Baird but it wasn’t him, it was Grant Gillespie, so this is what you are dealing with.

"They are just guessing, he said it was a handball, but I never saw any handball from where I was.

"The ball went out for a corner, and he [Muir] is the only guy in the stadium that sees something different - incredible.

"We had the same situation at Arbroath three weeks ago, we had a stonewall penalty not given.

"We listen to Ange [Postecoglou] during the week about the one in the Rangers vs Celtic game. I think for everyone, clarity needs to be told, basically in black and white what handball is and what isn’t, because there are too many decisions that are just baffling at the moment."

While Imrie was gutted Morton's long unbeaten run came to an end, he was proud of the performance of his players against Thistle.

He added: "I have got to take my hat off to the guys, they have been different class since the last time we were at Firhill.

"We are playing a team that is expected to win the league. I thought for large parts of that game that we were by far the better team.

"The penalty changes the game, but we showed the character again to get back into the game and we score within five minutes.

"I am not going to be critical of the boys, I am really proud of them and what they have achieved in the last two and a half months has been nothing short of remarkable."