MICHAEL Doyle has heaped praise on Morton fans for their support throughout the season and believes Friday’s game at Tannadice gave the players the opportunity to show their appreciation to the travelling Greenock contingent.

Despite suffering defeat to Dundee United on Tayside in the play-off quarter-final, Doyle was blown away with the support he and his team-mates received from the stands where the loyal Ton support were housed.

He shed some light on what manager Jim Duffy said in his team talk following the final whistle as the squad gathered on the centre circle at the end of the game.

He exclusively told the Tele: “At the end of the game we obviously huddled around and it was just the manager saying ‘look, it’s been a fantastic season, you’ve been together’.

“He just thanked us for that and then told us to go and thank the fans. 

“The fans have been fantastic, we were always going to clap the fans anyway for their support, but the gaffer just kind of emphasised that they’ve been brilliant all year and they were brilliant all night.

“I just hope they look over the entire season and realise that we have had a good season. 

“The final hurdle we fell at, but it’s about progression. 

“We did better than last year and hopefully we’ll do better again next year. It’s a building block.”

Doyle is adamant that while Ton fell just short of promotion this time around, it’s imperative that they remain confident they can emulate this season’s form next term when they launch an assault on the Ladbrokes Championship which will be without a strong Hibs outfit.

The right-back has put this campaign down as a learning curve — and he reckons the current crop of Ton stars can push on next season.

He said: “At the start of the season we didn’t really have any expectations but because we had such a good couple of months, the expectation was always going to build up. 

“And other teams adapt to that, that’s what happens and you then have to adapt. 

“But we’ve got a young squad and the boys will learn. It’s a learning curve.”