SCOTT Tiffoney insists he’s ready to become a regular in the Morton starting line-up after featuring in a number of first-team games towards the tail end of last season.

The 18-year-old starred for Ton against Dumbarton and Dunfermline in the Championship after making some appearances in the early stages of last season’s Betfred Cup group stages.

And while he maintains that he reached his own targets last term of first-team starts and cameos, he’s looking to become a more prominent member of Jim Duffy’s squad next season.

He told the Tele: “From the start of the season my goals and objectives were to get a couple of appearances in the first team, so I think from the beginning I’ve achieved more than I set myself out to go and do originally.

“I played some Betfred Cup games at the start of the season and two league games against Dumbarton and Dunfermline. I think it was something like eight starts in the first team I played, so I was happy with that. But I’ll always want even more.

“It’s definitely a good starting point and will stand me in good stead for next season.

“I was pleased with how I performed when I did play but it’s always now about trying to build on that and become more of a regular. That’s my main goal now.”

The winger admits he and his team-mates can look back upon last season with pride after doing brilliantly to make it all the way to the Premiership play-offs after finishing fourth in the Championship.

But Tiffoney remains devastated to have been knocked out of the play-offs at the first hurdle in a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Dundee United.

He said: “We were delighted with how well the season went but we were gutted to be knocked out in the play-offs at such an early stage. We all genuinely did think we could go all the way and that we were good enough to go all the way.

I thought especially the first half of the first game we should have won that 3-0 or so.  But we went on to lose that game and that brought us down a wee bit.

“It was just getting the first game through and I think if we had played and won that first game we would’ve been fine. So we were really gutted about that.”

Tiffoney has been a Ton player since he was just 14-years-old and he insists the current dressing room is the best he’s played with. But it’s a bittersweet thought now that a number of his pals have moved on to pastures new.

Long-time friend Jon Scullion was released at the end of the season along with several other stars who have been part of the group for a number of years — including Conor Pepper.

Despite his young age, Tiffoney understands football is a business and that these things happen. And he reckons his mate has it in him to be a success elsewhere after leaving Cappielow.

He added: “This has been me at the club for five years now. It’s a really good team now, but the dressing room is even better. All the boys are a close unit and it’s a good team to play for. 

“There’s a chance it might be a bit different next year with losing all the loan players and three or four who were released, so it might be another different team next 
season.

“But this team has been one of the best I’ve been involved in. We’re a very close team and it was nice to have a last team night out before everyone leaves.

“I’ve been playing with Jon Scullion since he started. It’s sad to lose team-mates but at the end of the day that’s football. You just need to get up and on with it, even though I’m gutted to see them all leave. 

“I was shocked but football is a crazy game sometimes. Even the best players it happens to, but it’s how they get back and get on with it.

“Jon, for instance, definitely has it in him to get back playing for a good team wherever that might be.”