GUTTED Morton boss Dougie Imrie says he could be without winger Jai Quitongo until the middle of MARCH - after revealing that the unfortunate wide man is set for another spell on the sidelines.

Quitongo, who has resorted to dubbing himself as Michael Myers due to the number of comebacks he’s been forced to make in the past, has been restricted to just a handful of league appearances this season.

It’s been a plagued campaign for the wide man, during which he has dislocated both shoulders and ruptured ligaments in his ankle.

He has now damaged ligaments in his knee in the latest blow for both him and the Ton boss who couldn’t hide his devastation at his player's horrid luck when it comes to injuries this season.

Imrie has called for more protection for his players after revealing the extent of the damage that Quitongo has sustained following a late Ben Stanway tackle that sparked furious scenes against Partick Thistle a few weeks ago.

The manager told the Tele: “There’s one or two missing for this weekend’s game. Jai will be missing again for another period of time.

“The tackle against Partick Thistle has turned out to be a lot more serious than we first thought and we probably shouldn’t have played him against Montrose.

“He felt pain in his knee after the game, which led to us sending him for a scan and the results of that haven’t been good.

“It showed that there’s an issue in his knee, in one of the ligament’s I believe, so he could miss up to the next five weeks as a result.

“It’s not as bad as it could have been. But we need to now give him the time to rest, recover and get himself sorted.

“This isn’t the first time I'm saying this, but it’s a big blow for the club because we were just getting him back. We’d just got him back in the starting 11 to help get his fitness up as well.

“It’s going to be a blow for the boys too because when he’s about the place he’s such an infectious kid, we love him.

“My heart goes out to him because he’d again only just got back into the swing of things and was getting out onto the pitch.

“We’ve had adequate cover for him over the last few months, so hopefully that can continue.”

Imrie offered a hand of support to the player, who has battled horrific injuries in the past.

It had looked like he’d gotten over those last season after hitting multiple milestones upon his return to Greenock, but Imrie said the tackle that caused the injury should have been dealt with properly.

He added: “It’s horrific, I really feel for Jai because he’s had his injury troubles in the past.

“It looked as if he was getting over them as well last season after hitting so many milestones. You just want him to have a free run.

“Again, the tackle that done it from Stanway was horrific, it was a straight red card, never a yellow.

“All I’m looking for is protection, I get that football is a physical game, I've been there myself.

“But your eyes tell you when tackles are a wee bit naughty and that was one of them.

“It should have been dealt with better, but again it is what it is, opinions are opinions.

"That’s why manager’s get annoyed and probably end up in the doghouse."