Dougie Imrie: Morton boss can't believe injury luck

The Ton boss could field a completely separate team with the players that are currently unavailable for selection - and that was before Iain Wilson was sent off against Queen's Park on Tuesday night.

Imrie has had to deal with an increased number of players drop out of contention (Image: paul paterson)

Despite running with a bigger squad than last season, he's found himself in the midst of as serious an injury crisis as the one that's swamped the Cappielow men for much of the last 12 months.

And as he looks to try and put a squad together to head to the Falkirk Stadium tomorrow, he revealed why he was without two of his squad over the last few weeks, and why he's in no circumstances going to rush either of them back.

He told the Tele: "We find ourselves in a really similar position as this time last season on the injury front, when we've got a bigger squad this time around.

"The injuries seem to be worse than last season, as well as coming in one big cluster.

"Up until the Hamilton game we had everyone available for selection, apart from Morgan Boyes, who was struggling with a concussion problem.

"We need to be careful with that, because it's his health at the end of the day - we can't be rushing him back.

"Lamar Reynolds hasn't been here due to personal reasons for a couple of weeks now, and we need to give him time to deal with all of that.

"People don't understand what's going on, and that's just two of the things that are going on in the background. 

"There's other things that can't be said because they're private matters. It's disappointing, because I don't have them available, but at the end of the day, people come first, not football."

Imrie was delighted to welcome Andy Millen back into the dugout (Image: paul paterson photography)

Despite dealing with a seemingly worsening injury crisis, Imrie was delighted to welcome back trusted assistant Andy Millen to the touchline with him on Tuesday night.

The last few weeks had seen Imrie stretched to the limit after Millen was placed on a 20-day suspension by Sinclair Street bosses while they investigated alleged incidents that were said to have taken place on September 5 at the match against Raith Rovers.

The Ton chief was spotted overseeing all of his side's pre-match preparations solo in games against Dunfermline and Hamilton, and he'd previously said that the working environment within the club was becoming increasingly difficult as a result.

But on Millen's return, he added: "I'm delighted to have Andy back in with the group.

"In management, particularly on matchday, you've got a million and one things going on, so he's been a massive miss over the last three weeks.

"I could say a millions things about him being back, but it'll leave it at that.

"It's great to have him back and I was delighted to see him in the dugout on Tuesday night."