Dougie Imrie blasted his Morton side for turning in their worst performance since he took over as manager, and said they were like strangers in the 1-0 defeat at Hamilton Accies.
Morton were on a run of six games without defeat since Imrie took over on December 21, but Lewis Spence's strike just after the interval consigned them to defeat at a club where Imrie is regarded as a legend.
The Greenock side had few shots on target throughout a disappointing game, while Imrie looked on from the stand as the first of his six-game ban for betting kicked in.
Imrie and Morton will hope they can turn their form around again as they head for Partick Thistle on Tuesday.
Imrie, from Lanark, said: "I'm disappointed. I didn't think we turned up today at all.
"That's the worst we've played since I've come in. I don't think we were at the races, but Hamilton obviously got their chance and they took it.
"I think probably over the course of the 90 minutes it looked as if it was a 0-0. The two teams huffed and puffed, but again a clearance to the edge of the box and Hamilton capitalise.
"Fair play to them, but bitterly, bitterly disappointed on our part.
"We had been on a great run, and we looked as if we turned up as a team that hadn't been together before today.
"I was stuck for words at times, watching it from where I was.
"Hopefully it's an off-day and we go again on Tuesday night, but from the standards that they've set themselves I was bitterly disappointed as a group."
Imrie was absent from the dug-out, but says his side should still have had more about them in the game. The former Hamilton and St Mirren midfielder has been handed a ban of six games, with four more suspended, after being found guilty of betting offences.
"I wouldn't use that as an excuse," he said. "Obviously I was in the stand today, but the players have been excellent since I've come in, but I thought they were miles off it today, as a group.
"I've told them that, I don't mince my words, but like I say, we need to pick ourselves up quickly and get back into another positive lot of games, starting with Partick Thistle on Tuesday night.
"We know ourselves the next few games are going to be tough, as they all are, but the next two are against teams who are chasing promotion, so we know how tough it will be."
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