East Fife to add to squad

East Fife's Kevin Smith tussles with Tommy Robson during Saturday's draw with Queen's Park (Pic: Kenny McKay)

The Fifers’ boss says he is working had to bring in a couple of new recruits, possibly on loan deals from top-tier sides, to bolster his injury-hit team ahead of Saturday’s League One trip to Alloa Athletic.

“I'm hoping to have a couple of players in by the end of the week,” he said.

“I'm waiting to hear back from a few Premiership teams with regard to loan deals and we’ve had one or two guys in on trial as well, so hopefully by the end of the week we’ll have a wee bit more depth to the squad.

“We’re six players down from three weeks ago so we certainly need it.”

Though disappointed not to take all three points from Saturday’s 1-1 league opener against full-time Queen’s Park, Young said he was delighted with the performance put in his youthful side and says they can face Barry Ferguson’s team this weekend with a degree of confidence.

“I think every game this season is going to be tricky,” he said. “I think every team has strengthened.

“I know Alloa and I know a few of their players as well.

“They’ve signed a few players so I know it’s going to be a hard game against them away from home.

“They’ll be upset with they're result at the weekend [a 2-0 defeat away to Peterhead] so they'll be looking to bounce back from that.

“We need to be wary. We can’t just rest on our laurels.”

After that meeting in Clackmannanshire, the Fifers will be back at home on Tuesday night when they play St Johnstone B in the SPFL Trust Trophy.

“We hope to do well in every competition and we want to get as far on as we can,” Young said.

“A couple of years back, we got to the semi-final when we got beaten by Ross County very unluckily.

“Every competition we go into, we want to try and win it, that’s for sure, or at least get as far on as we can, so we’ll assess that match and deal with it. Hopefully we’ll have players in by then and will have no more injuries to contend with.”

The 42-year-old added: “We’ve made a good start and need to keep up that same level of performance, but we know we can improve on the ball and improve in certain areas.”