Love eyeing top two transfer targets to boost Bathgate

Aug 5 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

GRAEME LOVE has revealed his delight at retaining the spine of his squad for the new Superleague season while insisting he is inching towards the final two signatures he needs to wrap up his summer wheeling and dealing.

The Jags gave brought in Gary McCulloch (Armadale Thistle), Mark Lunn (Newtongrange), Chris Wilson (Knightswood U-21s) and Chris Jeffries (Camelon) while they have only lost two – Jim Lister and Brian McPhee.

And although the Bathgate boss concedes they will miss the massive goal return of Lister, he has two new signings in his sights and hopes to seal one before the weekend.

He said: “I still trying to bring another couple of players in and that’ll be us ready and settled.

“Jim will be a big loss and we aren’t trying to replace him, or anyone, like for like as that’s just not going to happen anyway.

“All we want to do is bring in the right people and we won’t just bring in anyone.

“We’ve only been back a little over two-weeks so we have time and like I said I want to make sure we bring the right person in but if we get the two guys I’m after we’ll be in a much stronger position.

“I hope to know from one of them by the weekend or next week at the latest but I'm a little further back with the second one.

“We’ve managed to keep a hold of all of our guys that I wanted to keep which is a big bonus as well.”

Last Sunday, Bathgate and Motherwell met in the first-ever Paul McGrillen Memorial Trophy match for the late striker, who had been a star at both clubs.

The SPL side might have won the match 4-2 but the occasion was about much more for Love who has also been delighted with the form of his players.

He added: “We’ve played three matches in pre-season and we’ve done well.

“We did well against a strong Motherwell side, who had several players who had played for them in Europe, last Sunday in the memorial match for Paul McGrillen.

“This was the first time we’ve played this match and it was a big thing for the club and it is was great to see his family as well.

“The match is also something we hope to continue in the coming seasons.”