DEFIANT Morton boss Dougie Imrie says his fifth manager of the month award is by far the most satisfying of his collection after 'disrespectful' comments made by rivals. 

The Ton boss has overseen his team's remarkable 12-game unbeaten run after coming through a torrid spell at the start of the season that saw the Cappielow side languishing at the bottom of the Championship.

They were stuck there for two months before going on an amazing sequence that has seen them collect 24 points out of the last 30 available to them.

With Ton now sitting in fourth place, just five points behind third placed Partick Thistle, Imrie says it shows that people in some quarters were way too quick to write him and his players off.

He told the Tele: “Some people out there, within our game and even in our division, have said some stuff that motivates me.

“I enjoy that. That gives me my edge and that’s the way I was brought up, to always have something like that to motivate you.

“Even as a player, I played on the edge. But this award has probably given me the biggest smile out of the ones that were already on the mantlepiece.

“There have been some comments made throughout the season from one or two individuals in our division, who we’re due to play soon, that have been very disrespectful towards Morton.

“I think people forget that they play each other four times a season, but you always get your day.

“Hopefully that day isn’t too far around the corner.”

Imrie admits his squad were struggling badly at points during the early parts of the season, when their ever-growing injury crisis seemed relentless.

He says his award belongs to them too after rallying to come out the other side of the downturn, and hailed their character and mindset.

The Ton boss added: “The boys have been brilliant for me.

“They were looking round at their team-mates who were falling off a cliff at times with injuries but they soldiered on and they’re now on the other side of it.

“There’s no getting away from it that we don’t have the biggest budget, in fact I know we’ve got the lowest budget in the league.

“But I know the group and the characters I’ve got here and what they’re capable of doing.

“Money doesn’t always buy you success and I think you’ve seen that over the last two years that I’ve been here at Morton.”