MORTON boss Dougie Imrie hailed his side's defence as they held on to keep a third consecutive clean sheet in their 0-0 draw against Dunfermline Athletic.

Ton made it three games unbeaten in the 0-0 draw at East End Park where they staved off a heavy second half onslaught from the Fifers. And despite being frustrated at his side's second half performance - he was delighted to be able to pick up a valuable point on the road.

Imrie concedes though - that his side handed their hosts the impetus after failing to get out of the traps in the second half.

"I'm a bit frustrated with our performance," He told the Tele. "But I've got to give credit to Dunfermline. I thought in the first half that they tried to come and press us.

"At times we did really well to get out the other side of that or into the pocket of space that Niall McGinn had been occupying. We were straight in on their back four at will.

"I really enjoyed the first half in terms with our play. But the way we started the second half was nowhere near good enough.

"We handed Dunfermline the impetus and on another day we could've lost that. I need to praise my back four because they held firm whilst Dunfermline put us under a lot of pressure.

"We had opportunities ourselves. If something had maybe landed for Filip (Stuparevic) or if Moff (Owen Moffat) had taken his chance first time on his left foot, we could be looking at a different score.

"Logan (O'Boy) has to slip Owen Moffat in at the end, but as a young boy whose still learning the game, he decides to go it alone and forces a save from the keeper.

"I'm pleased to come here, a tough venue, and pick up a point and a clean sheet."

Imrie was pleased to see his side put their bodies on the line in order to protect their clean sheet at all costs.

The point keeps them five points off the top four and despite knowing that his side can be better - Imrie believes his side are starting to knit together whilst the chips are down.

He added: "That's what it takes as a team - you need to put your body on the line and that's what the boys did today.

"We know we can be better, but to come and pick up a point and another clean sheet shows that everything's coming together. They're fighting for each other.

"We came here off the back of a lot of injuries, we had some key players missing and hopefully we've got two or three of those back for next week when we travel to Hamilton."