Monday 11th July 2016
GAFFER Stevie Aitken hopes to bring in a new addition before Dumbarton face Forfar on Saturday – but admits a deal is still some way off.
The Sons boss admits that assembling a squad for the Station Park trip will be difficult as he waits on answers from players.
But he is hopeful that one potential signing – who is NOT Saturday’s trialist midfielder Josh Todd – could arrive.
He said: “It’s hard to say at the moment. You have to play signed players in the League Cup, which makes it very difficult. Being able to field trialists would make it a lot easier.
“We’re hopeful of getting one over the line before Saturday, but as it stands we’re not close to a deal. We’ll see what happens in the coming days.
“There are other players on the radar. Josh came in last week so we could have a look at him, and he did well, like he did on the occasions we watched him last season.”
One player highly unlikely to take part in Saturday’s first competitive game is skipper Darren Barr, whose back injury is proving troublesome.
And Stevie conceded that he may have to add another defensive option to the squad should the problem persist.
The boss continued: “We don’t know when Darren will return. It’s down to the medical side of things.
“He has a trapped nerve in his back and there’s not much you can do but let it heal. He has reported that it is better some days than others and is taking medication, but we have to be patient.
“We might have to add to the defensive side of the squad, but we won’t rush into it. If we are still in this situation before the league starts we may look to bring another defender in.”
“Craig Pettigrew can play at centre half. We brought players to the club this close season based on their versatility.”
Despite the ongoing squad-building process, Saturday’s visit to Forfar is one that Stevie is looking forward to.
And he has high hopes for the newly-formatted Betfred Cup, which also has Sons in a section with East Fife, Dundee and Peterhead.
He added: “We had Forfar watched a couple of weeks ago. Stuart Millar has been all over the country watching them so that we can form a sound judgement of them before we take them on.
“There is no doubt it will be a tricky game, but we will go up there in a positive manner and look to win the game.
“It’s a competition we want to do well in and we won’t change teams for the sake of giving players a game.
“We only have 14 players, plus two development players, and it would be disrespectful to the tournament and fans to change the team for every game.”
Andy Galloway