Montrose’s first competitive game of the new season against Angus neighbours Forfar comes tomorrow in the Petrofac Cup with Gable Endies boss Paul Hegarty admitting he is still on the look-out for up to another five new players.
The former Dundee United legend is playing catch-up compared to other sides because of Montrose’s end-of-season involvement in the pyramid play-off against Brora Rangers.
The uncertainty surrounding the outcome of that nail-biting two-legged affair meant plans for this campaign had to be put on hold.
Hegarty has been busy behind the scenes ever since trying to rebuild his squad who have lost their two pre-season games against Buckie Thistle and Cove Rangers by identical 3-1 scorelines.
The manager said: “We have added quite a few lads and just this week we brought in Jordan Millar on loan from St Johnstone.
“He is an up-and-coming keeper and has been well coached at McDiarmid by Stevie Banks.
“However, we are still trying to get four or five players in to bolster the squad.
“Our results so far haven’t been good but the players are still rusty and pre-season is all about working on match fitness.
“To be fair, we are two or three weeks behind everyone else.
“Our season was extended because of the Brora Rangers play-off games and there was a lot of uncertainty as we didn’t know what league we would be playing in this time round.
“So we are playing catch-up to a certain extent in terms of completing our squad.
“There is still a lot of work to do.”