MORTON boss Dougie Imrie has tipped midfield prodigy Alexander King to have a bright future in the game but says there’s still a lot he needs to learn in order to get there.

The 18-year-old, who’d initially broke into the Cappielow first team under Gus MacPherson, was thrown in at the deep end by Imrie at times last season and proved that he could keep his head above water despite his tender age, scoring four goals over the course of the season.

Imrie pointed to the teenager’s character after being in the firing line against Dundee in the latter weeks of the season, saying it shows he’s got what it takes to kick on.

The boss also believes that the youngster will eventually attract attention from other clubs gicen his raw talent.

Imrie told the Tele: “The young kids here have got a lot to learn.

“It’s not the easiest of leagues to learn your trade in because you’ve got to be bang at it for the 60, 90 however many minutes you’re on the park.

“Alexander contributed with a few goals over the course of the season, which is good. It’s good to have another midfielder who knows where the back of the net is.

“He was a good example of the fact that they’ve got a lot to learn, but he also showed that he was willing to do it.

“The way we lost the goals in the 3-3 draw against Dundee was poor and he’d been involved in the build up to two of them.

“But he was put in the starting line up a week later and scored, there’s no better way to bounce back.

“Through time where he gets a bit more experience, he’ll learn to deal with those situations better, but he’s still learning his way in the game.

“Hopefully he has a bright future in the game. He’s a huge talent and if he keeps on doing what he has done then teams will inevitably come sniffing for him."

Imrie admits he will be demanding goals from the likes of King and other players next term as Ton look to improve on last season's fifth-placed finish.

He said: “It’s always good to have goals coming from all over the park and that showed last season.”

“The more pleasing aspect towards the end of last season, was the amount of chances that we were creating.

“If you look at the Arbroath game, it could’ve been six or seven. Dundee we had more opportunities, we scored three but we could’ve had more.

“Then against Raith, the game should’ve been out of sight in the first 20 minutes but again we never took our chances.

“Against Hamilton it could’ve been anything the way the second half went. The floodgates could’ve opened at any point, so we’ve got something to carry into the new season, but we know what we need to work on."