Stuart Garden has vowed to strengthen his squad after Montrose lost ground in the League Two promotion play-off race at the hands of Albion Rovers.
The Gable Endies manager is determined to bring in fresh faces as his side made it five games without a win.
Scott Chaplain’s fifth-minute penalty earned Rovers a vital three points on Pay What You Can day at Cliftonhill, with all fans admitted for the minimum price of £1.
A season-high attendance of 718 was recorded but those who made the trip from Angus were left disappointed and Garden is now keen on replenishing the ranks despite financial challenges.
“We need to strengthen but it’s not as easy as you would think,” he said.
“We’ve already lost out on a couple of players because we couldn’t get anywhere near the wages that they were looking for.
“I’m talking three or four times the amounts that we could pay them.
“Everybody is looking to bring in the players they think can make a difference. You will find that clubs are all looking at the same players.”
Montrose remain seventh in the table and are now seven points adrift of the play-off places but Garden is not panicking just yet.
He added: “There is a long way to go. We’ve dropped off in the last few weeks but, if we win a couple of games, we will be right in there.”
Rovers netted what turned out to be the winner from the spot through Chaplain after a shot from Chris Dallas was charged down by Alan Campbell’s arm.
Ryan Donnelly should have made it 2-0 before the break but Montrose hung on and almost equalised in the closing stages with keeper Neil Parry turning a Ross McCord free-kick over the bar.
Garden said: “We didn’t start the game well. We made three basic mistakes in the build-up to the penalty, which led to their goal.
“It was a magnificent save from their keeper at the free-kick. From where we were standing, we thought it was going in.”