SFL striker may not be last new arrival at Bathgate

Jack has been secured until the end of the current campaign and Love reckons he'll add something to his on-form side, the Creamery Park men having made it five wins on the bounce as they knocked Bo'ness out of the Emirates Scottish Junior Cup last weekend.

"I'm delighted to have signed Martin as I feel he will bring a bit of youth to our attack that is much needed," said the former Hibs player. "He's 6ft plus but has a good touch for a big lad.

"He's strong and athletic and I suppose he's quite similar in a way to Jim Lister and everyone knows how valuable he is to our team.

"Martin is coming to us to get games but I've told him that the Junior game is not where I see his long-term future – I definitely think he can play at a higher level."

Compared to most other Super League clubs, Love is working with a relatively small squad in his first season as Bathgate manager and Jack may not be the only player to be added to the pool in the coming weeks.

"If finances allow it and, equally, I think the players can add something to the team, I would like to bring in another one or two as we don't have the biggest of squads," he added.

"At the moment, we've also got two or three injuries – Iain Nicolson and Stevie Menmuir are both unavailable, for instance – while we've also had to do without Brian McPhee for the last two rounds of the Scottish Cup due to suspension. In three or four weeks, we're probably going to be like the rest of the teams and find ourselves playing a couple of games a week so a bigger squad would certainly be helpful. But, if it's not possible to bring in more players for whatever reason, then I'll need to work with what I've got and I won't have any problems with that as the guys have been fantastic this season."

One player Love is set to lose for a spell is his former Easter Road team-mate Paul Riley, who is scheduled to go in for an operation shortly.

"Paul will be a big miss as he is very valuable in terms of the way we set up," noted Love. "He may not have the legs he once did, so to speak, but he provides tremendous experience and holds the middle of the park together for us."

Despite the fact he had to replaced at half-time in the win over Bo'ness, Riley should be fit for tomorrow's derby clash with Whitburn in the Super League.

"It's another big game for us but the guys are looking forward to it," said Love. "After having a couple of hard games on the bounce, we gave the players a bit of relaxation by taking them swimming earlier in the week and hopefully they'll be ready to go again on Saturday.

"Players always love derby matches but my job will be to make sure boys like Jimmy Lister, Graeme McLaren and Alex Lurisnky don't get caught up in the physical and concentrate on what they're good at."

The game will generate much-needed income for Whitburn and manager Derek Strickland admits the stop-start nature of their campaign hasn't helped his players try and forget about the club's much-publicised financial problems.

"Everyone wants to try and forget about the trouble the club is in but the players have been unable to focus on games because we've not had enough matches to take their focus off other things.

"It's been stop-start for us recently and we need some consistency in terms of playing matches. Everyone wants to be able to start doing our talking on the park rather than off it."

Strickland was in the 1,000-plus crowd that watched Bathgate beat Bo'ness last weekend thanks to a late winner from Graeme McLaren and added: "They're doing well at the moment and that result will certainly have given them a big boost. However, over the years in the Super League we've done well against Bathgate, in fact, it's almost as though we've had a hoodoo on them. But they'll be a tough nut to crack on this occasion. Graeme Love, who has changed things a bit from Willie Hill's time in charge, is doing a decent job in his first season and the one thing about Bathgate is that they've got a lot of experience in their side."