JOHNNY Millar claims Morton are the best team his side have come across since he took over as boss at Beith Juniors — but he is still proud of his players for giving it their all against them.

Millar watched as his side were taken apart by Ton in a 6-0 victory for the Greenock outfit, but he reckons his team began the game in the right fashion, by having a go at their visitors.

He said: “The first 10 minutes I was sitting thinking ‘hey, this is not bad!’ But once we lost the first goal — which was a cheap goal — the heads seemed to go down.

But Morton are a quality team, we’ve watched them a couple of times now and they’ve done that to Championship teams — not just us.

“They’re quality and that’s the best team I’ve seen close up playing against us. We were done by the better team.”

When asked if his gameplan was to kick down the slope and attack Ton in the early goings, Millar replied: “No! We actually lost the toss because we wanted to hit up the hill in the first half.

“We wanted to try and keep it tight in the first half and then have a go at them in the second half, but they got the goal early and it meant they could keep the ball and play about with it at the back, and that’s what they did. They kept it for fun.”

Millar also acknowledged the clear difference in quality between the two teams, but was still content with his side’s showing.

And he praised the supporters for getting behind his troops throughout — despite the heavy scoreline.

He added: “I can’t fault the boys for effort, they’ve been brilliant for us for the last few seasons. That’s only the second loss at home in a long time. I can’t give Morton high enough praise.

“There’s a gulf in quality and that showed. We put our hands up and accept that we were beaten by the better team.

“But the fans have been brilliant. They stuck by us, we got beat 6-0 and they still cheered us off.”