Three things we learned as Morton crash out of Scottish Cup

He and the 300 Ton fans who were in attendance at Somerset Park learned a lot as their side failed to build on their stunning late win at Stark's Park just over a fortnight ago.

Mikey Devlin set Ayr on their way with a second half stunner (Image: paul paterson)And it was a frustrating afternoon that had initially looked as if it would be one to remember after a bright start in Ayrshire.

But the Cappielow side were left to carry out an inquest on their second half collapse at Somerset Park following goals from Michael Devlin and Frankie Musonda.

Here are three things we learned from their performance. 

The importance of Filip

Stuparevic was a big miss on Saturday (Image: alex craig) The presence of Imrie's fox in the box Filip Stuparevic was sorely missed on Saturday.

His absence was a big blow for the Cappielow side after pulling up injured in training last week with a suspected hamstring issue.

Without him, Ton struggled to have much of an outlet when they were under some serious pressure from the Somerset Park side.

With the chances that Ton did manage to create, Jordan Davies found himself one-on-one with Liam Russell before both Iain Wilson and Cameron Blues also saw chances go begging. You'd have backed the Serb to take at least one of those.

Imrie will be hoping that Stuparevic's injury isn't going to be too serious as much of his side's goalscoring threat looks to rest upon his shoulders whilst others get up to speed.

Shaw looks promising

Nathan Shaw was an outlet for Ton when utilised (Image: paul paterson photography)

Whilst Ton's result was disappointing, one positive to take from the game was that Nathan Shaw started his first match since the middle of March.

The former Inverness man lasted exactly an hour at Somerset Park and he looked dangerous against the likes of Paddy Reading and Scott McMann.

That start was the next step in his recovery and phased return to first team action. In his appearance his ability on the ball, particularly when he got it in the final third was there to see.

He's shown that he will be a big big player for Dougie Imrie's side in the second half of the season and he'll be hoping that this is the first of many starts going forward.

Blindsided

Ton's passing game got them into bother on more than one occasion (Image: paul paterson) Yes. Blindsided. 

Ton totally collapsed in the second half against the Honest Men and a good part of that was  down to their insistence on playing out from the back, especially when it wasn't on.

There were numerous occasions in the second half against Ayr where the ball was glaringly given away in their own defensive third, when the simple option would've been to try and go long.

Whether that was because the out ball they were looking for wasn't there, or it was down to instruction remains to be seen.

But to try and succeed in playing this particular way means that you'll need to take risks from time to time.

There needs to be an element of being street savvy whilst trying to play your way through the stages of pressing. That's something Imrie was and will be hammering into his players moving forward before they get punished on a regular basis.