AYR United boss Lee Bullen says that Saturday's loss to Morton was "soul destroying" as Dougie Imrie's side halted their two game winning streak.

George Oakley's 87th minute header was enough to give the Greenock outfit the win at Somerset Park - in what the United manager described as a real "sucker punch".

The Honest Men looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw and share of the points until the Morton striker headed home from an Alan Power free-kick.

"Unfortunately in football that’s the type of thing that can happen now and again," Bullen told the Advertiser, "but it doesn’t help the supporters, it doesn’t help our league position, it doesn’t help our point.

“I’m standing there with three or four minutes to go thinking it’s probably a fair result, good to get a clean sheet, we move on and that’s three games unbeaten and then you get sucker punched like that.

“It’s unfortunate but Morton play the way they play and that is the perfect game plan for them – be strong, be robust, be aggressive, win 1-0 and score a goal from a set play.

“That’s Morton in a nutshell and they’re effective at it.”

Ayr Advertiser: George Oakley celebrates scoring Morton's winning goal.

Ayr had made a number of chances prior to going behind, though Bullen felt that the draw would have been a fair reflection of the match.

He commented: “We’ve hit the junction of the crossbar, we’ve had good shooting opportunities but I’ve got to be honest, I think if their goalie lets any of those in you're pointing the finger at him.

“It’s a really frustrating one for the players, coaches and supporters as well.

“I don’t think it was a bad performance, I don’t think it was a great performance – it was a performance that merited a point, I think we would have been lucky if we got any more than that.”

Luck was not on Ayr's side, which the United boss felt was reflected in some of the refereeing decisions.

The home side were denied a strong shout for a penalty earlier in the match, and Logan Chalmers appeared to be upended only moments before Morton won the free-kick which led to their winner.

Bullen explained: “We spoke to the linesman and he said that he told him [the referee] that it was a free-kick but the referee decided that there wasn’t enough in it.

“You hope that these sorts of decision swing your way further down the season but that was soul destroying.

“We’ve had better refereeing performances at Ayr United – shall I say.”

However, the Ayr boss was not looking to make excuses as his side fell to another home defeat.

United have now lost four of their five league matches at Somerset Park this season, winning only one in front of their home support.

Bullen continued: “It’s very frustrating, the normal recipe for success is you win at home and draw away from home, that tends to be the old adage.

“We’ve not been able to do that, it’s so disappointing because the crowds keep turning out, they’re giving great support and it’s just frustrating not being able to give them three points to walk back home with.

“Don’t get me wrong, I hope our away form continues tomorrow [Tuesday, October 31] up at Partick but it would nice to give our supporters that home win and give them something to smile about.”

Ayr now face a quick turnaround, as they travel to face Partick Thistle tomorrow at Firhill, with the match kicking off at 7.45pm.