Lee Bullen insists Ayr United must learn to be more ruthless after a reality check against Morton.
Gavin Reilly's double fired Ton to a vital cinch Championship win for the visitors and checked United's recent momentum.
And Bullen believes it was a harsh lesson in being clinical in front of goal as Ayr laboured to land a blow.
Tomi Adeloye's early miss when clean through proved a big moment as United went on to be punished.
And head coach Bullen said: "Getting the first goal can be vital – goals change games and it was a big, big opportunity we didn’t take. They took theirs and that was the difference in the game.
"It pulls them back closer to us so that’s them a point behind – it was an opportunity for us to go seven points clear of Morton and we’ve not taken it.
"But if you had given us six out of nine points from the last three fixtures we would have snatched your hand off.
"If we continue to take six out of nine then we’re heading in the right direction."
Bullen added: "The players are really disappointed and they deserve to be.
"But in general play there wasn’t much between the teams.
"The difference was they took their opportunities in the box and we never tested their goalkeeper enough.
"We can’t be too downhearted, it’s early on, I’ve only been in 10 days.
"Be disappointed for two days, get back on track and prepare for a big game against St Mirren.
"We’re speaking to people and trying to do bits and pieces in the transfer window but hopefully by end of January we’ll have two or three. The sooner we can get them in the better."
Adeloye was the only change to Bullen's starting XI from the side that beat Arbroath as he returned from suspension in place of Michael Moffat.
And United's top scorer should have added to his tally when racing clear following a slip by Alan Lithgow in the opening minutes, only to fluff his lines with keeper Jack Hamilton to beat.
United looked the brighter in the first half but struggled to create clear chances and they paid the price as Morton hit the front with their first real attack.
Lewis Strapp's deflected cross from the left was met by Reilly who steered home a volley from six yards.
'Ton could have doubled their lead just before the break as Cammy Blues drew a great save from Aidan McAdams.
Bullen called for new boy Ryan Gondoh from the bench after the break but he was only on the park for seconds when Morton grabbed the clinching goal.
Goze Ugwu showed great skill before powering into the box and fired across goal for Reilly to tap home.
Morton boss Dougie Imrie said: "We knew what Ayr were going to give us here coming off the back of a new manager last week.
"They'd won two home games in a row so we set ourselves up to nullify them and we managed to do that."
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