Looking Ahead
“We’ve identified the players that we want and apart from a couple of places we’re nearly there!” That was the positive message relayed to the support from Graham Roberts this afternoon. Joe and I are happy with what we have got but it has been a busy time over the last couple of weeks.
Speaking of last weekend’s game against Manchester United Roberts remained positive “I felt we tired in the second half but we were very competitive especially in the first hour. It was our fourth game in the week and on the whole I was very pleased.”
Roberts revealed that the game against Manchester was the last match the players had competed in, “we’ve trained hard all week. The players have tomorrow off and will train with Joe on Sunday. We’ll play against Livingston on Monday and face Larkhall Thistle on Wednesday (with a 6.30pm kick off). In both games we will be giving all of our players a run out and we will be going all out to put on a show.”
Graham spoke further about his quest to build the squad, “We’ve agreed deals with a number of players and these will be announced in due course when the formalities have been completed. I’m down South this weekend to watch a few games and specifically two strikers. The work goes on and we will continue to look to bring in players to improve the overall quality of the squad.”
Roberts also confirmed that a move to bring in a player on loan, to bolster the team is still very much a possibility, “the striker I’ve got my eye on has actually picked up an injury so that put it on the back burner but I’ll chat with the SPL side on Monday to try and see if we can do a deal.”
As well as forwards Roberts is also looking at the goalkeeping position, “Peter Cherrie has done well in the games so far but we need to have some competition. We’re continuing to look at John Hutchison but we’ll have two more keepers coming up next week including one from an SPL club. One thing that I will say is that we will not be rushed and like every place in the squad we try to ensure as much as we can that the right guys are chosen. The players know what I expect and have set themselves targets that they need to achieve consistently.”
Roberts cast his eyes on the season ahead, “It’s certainly a tough start and I’ll see a lot of
Robert’s continued, “So far I’ve seen seven of the other teams in the division and will go to watch St Mirren next week leaving just one side to see. Watching our rivals is an aspect that is ongoing throughout the season but it has been important for us to get a first look in early to judge what we will be facing.”
All in all it’s a quiet weekend after the activities of last week but Roberts revealed that it could have been all so different, “Sporting Lisbon wanted to play us but it was too short notice, as Broadwood was being used, so reluctantly we had to refuse but regardless it will be an important weekend as we prepare for the season ahead.”