Dougie Imrie says Morton youngsters won't be heading on loan

The Ton chief revealed that youth duo Alexander King and Logan O'Boy will stay with the first team squad at Cappielow and fight for their place in his side.

King has been utilised from the bench this season (Image: alex craig) Imrie let players head out on loan last season, before being hit with a crippling injury crisis that saw him forced to name just two substitutes at times in the first half of the campaign - and says it's an experience he doesn't want to repeat.

He told the Tele: "Guys like Alexander King and Logan O'Boy won't be going out on loan. They'll be staying.

"You've already seen that we've lost Iain Wilson to injury before the Cowdenbeath game, as well as Nathan Shaw and Dylan Corr to injury.

O'Boy, right, will look to impress this season (Image: Kenny Ramsay) "It's not that I made a mistake last season. I tried to let boys go out on loan to get game time, and then we got a bad run of injuries that nobody can predict. I'll never do that again.

"We've got enough adequate cover. We don't want to be in a position where we're turning up to games with one or two fit subs because we've got a horrific injury list.

"That's something I've learned over the last year or so, to always try and have numbers in the building."

Imrie is opting to protect the club's young guns (Image: Alex Craig)

Such was the crisis last season, Imrie was forced to rely on the likes of Sam Murdoch, Cameron Keay, Matthew Davidson and O'Boy to occupy the bench.

But Imrie says he doesn't want to expose his current crop of academy starlets to the challenges of a first team environment too soon - and also insists it would be cruel to offer kids false hope when a long road remains ahead of them.

He added: "I acknowledge that people will ask about the academy kids, but they're not ready to play at this level.

"It's unfair to put them in and expose them at the age they are. I wouldn't do it to my son if he was in their position.

"That's no disrespect to them, either; it's just that they're not ready. Even if I was to have them on the bench as a spare body, it wouldn't do them any favours.

"You're giving them a false hope if you do that, because if you appear on the bench or are lucky enough to get on the pitch, you're running to their friends delighted that you're a first team player.

"I wouldn't do that. But if they were good enough I'd have no problems doing it."