MORTON boss Dougie Imrie has told of his frustration over the team missing out on a place in the promotion play-offs for the second season in a row.

But he insists that he couldn't have asked for any more from his players in what he says has been a season blighted by injuries and other problems off the park.

And he has today told of his determination to make sure that things turn out differently next year.

Imrie told the Tele: "Listen, there's always stuff going on at this club on a daily basis that people won't see.

"But that doesn't come into the spotlight, that firmly shines on the pitch.

"My job is to get a team on the pitch that'll win games of football for this club, that'll hopefully take the club to the highest point achievable.

"This season, I'd have loved to have finished in the play-offs, I still believe that we should be there. But unfortunately the results will tell you that we've not done enough to be there.

"I don't just want to be lingering about the middle of the table or the bottom end of the Championship, I want to be looking at the top end.

"I want to take this club to the play-offs. We've had a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that's not helped, injuries in particular being one of those things.

"Not only that, it's been to key players for long spells of the season. I can point it back to the Airdrie game that we won 2-1 in February, we lost three key players in the one game.

"That knocked the stuffing out the boys in my opinion. People can sit and say, it's only three players but it was three players out of our spine who were on the top of their game.

"It was a big blow and it's been stop-start since then, which has been disappointing. But look, the boys have been outstanding for me this season.

"They've continued to go to the well and some for me, when others were injured and couldn't. It's testament to them that they've continued to do that and I can't fault them for it either."

Imrie though concedes that his players have room for improvement in key areas.

He said: "What I can fault at times is their decision making and concentration. Because they've shown how good they can be when we've got a full squad and they're fully at it.

"You don't go 16 games unbeaten in this league if you aren't a good team, it's impossible. It's very unlikely you go through a season with a run like that, from any team.

"In that run we beat a Premiership team and I think those cup games alone took a lot out of the players, both physically and mentally.

"Those games are massive in terms of mental and physical fitness, it drains them and they've done that twice in five weeks.

"That took it's toll but I keep telling them, if you want to play at the top level you need to do that every week."