A frustrated James Fowler was left to rue Kilmarnock's missed chances against Morton.
Killie's head of football operations watched on from the dugout as the Ayrshire side squandered countless chances whilst up 1-0 before throwing away the victory.
Alan Lithgow's second-half header cancelled out a stunning Rory McKenzie strike as the sides ended 2021 in a stalemate.
It's the second time this season Killie have dropped points from a winning position against a team bottom of the league, and it leaves them four points behind Scottish Championship leaders Arbroath.
And a dejected Fowler said: “It was a frustrating night, we created a lot of chances in the first half.
“The word I used in the changing room was ‘ruthless’, we have to be better at both ends of the pitch.
“If we got a second goal it would have allowed us to manage the game easier and would have killed their momentum you’d think.
“It sums up the season, a bit of frustration, but the players were good.
“The boys were really good against Hamilton and I thought they were good again, I think we deserved the three points.
“We lost a goal from a set play, we knew they’d be a threat from them and we defended them alright up until that point, but we were punished."
He added: “I think we still looked to play forward, we tried to create space and try and play.
“I felt we did play some good stuff, hopefully the fans that were here could see that.
“I know they’ll have went home frustrated with the result, but we tried to do the right things."
Just four minutes in Killie had a wonderful chance to take the lead when Callum Hendry danced through the Morton defence before getting a shot away, but Jack Hamilton stayed big and tipped the effort out for a corner.
In the 13th minute the visitors looked to fire themselves in front as Gavin Reilly fired a shot from 20 yards, but his effort went just over the crossbar to Zach Hemming’s relief.
It took 26 minutes for the deadlock to be broken and it was in Killie’s favour as McKenzie fired a cracker into the net from over 20 yards.
Scott Robinson was so close to doubling the hosts’ lead just after the half hour mark when he closed in on goal, but his shot from eight yards was saved well by Hamilton.
Hendry almost made it two in the 37th minute as he fired a close-range header towards goal, but it was well saved again by Hamilton as it was tipped out for a corner.
Fraser Murray had an incredible chance to make it 2-0 in the 58th minute as he found himself one-on-one after a lucky break, but Hamilton again came to Morton’s rescue as he stopped the shot with his feet.
Ten minutes later Killie’s missed chances came back to bite them when Lithgow headed home from a corner.
Murray was in on goal again in the 78th minute – but his finish was no good yet again as he fired it over.
Killie were pushing for a winner heading into stoppage time and as Morton tried to counter Jack Sanders was sent off for a cynical foul.
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