Michael Doyle: We lost to a better team
Michael Doyle admitted that Morton lost to a better team after their 4-0 defeat at the hands of table-topping Hibs on Saturday.
Goals from Andrew Shinnie, Grant Holt, Jason Cummings, and Brian Graham saw the Cappielow club put to the sword at Easter Road.
Defender Doyle felt every member of the Ton team would have had to be operating at the very top of their game to match Neil Lennon’s men and conceded that wasn’t the case.
Speaking to gmfc.net after the game, he said: “To be honest, we probably weren’t good enough and they were good. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say that.
“It was always going to be tough coming here, so you need to be on the top of your game at the best of times. You can’t have any passengers.
“When we played Kilmarnock and Hamilton we all turned up. Today, I’m not saying it was anybody’s fault or anything like that, it was just one of those days that happen in football.
“We didn’t play well. The difference in the performances of the teams was reflected in the scoresheet, the goals. I mean 4-0 shows they were just better today and sometimes that’s just football.”
As a member of a defence that conceded as many goals on Saturday as they had in their previous eight matches combined, Doyle was disappointed with the fact they came from four headers.
He added: “We were disappointed [we conceded] four headed goals – any of the other games anything has come in that box we have dealt with with ease. We haven’t even looked like conceding.
“I thought the first was a good goal from Hibs’ point of view. It’s a dangerous ball into the box – which is something we need to work on, including myself – and a good header.
“The boy looks as if he’s come in off the side between the two of us, but it’s actually bounced across the six-yard line and he has got a header on it. Sometimes that bounces right out the park.
“With the second one, I thought it was a foul on Gats [Derek Gaston]. I’d need to see it again, but it did look like a foul from where I was. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you dont.
“The third goal, anything that comes in that wee area [Jason] Cummings is going to pounce on. You really need to stop the ball coming into the box.
“With the fourth goal, it came from us attacking [but] there’s a bit of a slack pass. But the ball into the box and the header is just Premiership stuff.
“A fantastic cross and a fantastic header. It’s great movement from the striker. Sometimes you just have to hold your hand up and say that’s a great goal.”
The right-back says losing away at Hibs is not the sort of result that will define Morton’s season and that taking anything away from Edinburgh would have been an added extra.
Doyle, 25, concluded: “I hate to lose but anything against teams like Hibs, clubs who have spent a lot of money, is a bonus. It’s similar to teams in the Premiership with Celtic and Rangers.
“It’s the other teams round about you that you need to beat, so we need to keep our head up and try to bounce back in our next league game which is against Ayr.
“We’re only four games into the league season and anything can happen. Our unbeaten run was always going to come to an end at some point and maybe this was a wee wake up call.”
Image: David Bell
