East Kilbride boss Stevie Aitken has revealed they just missed out on the double signing of Kris Doolan and Gregor Buchanan this week.
In a summer of seemingly endless big name arrivals at K-Park, Kilby have been left frustrated after the two stars snubbed a switch to the fifth tier.
The Lowland League club were “really close” to taking their summer signings to 11 this season after holding positive talks with the Partick Thistle striking legend and former Dumbarton defender.
However, the lure of remaining in the SPFL proved to be the clincher for the duo, as they chose Championship clubs, with Doolan joining Arbroath and Buchanan signing a deal at Queen of the South.
Aitken said: “At one point we thought we had the two of them and they nipped away towards the end.
“We spoke to Kris and the feedback was really good.
"He was really keen and he was interested.
“Obviously we’d signed a couple of his former team-mates [Chris Erskine and Paul Paton] and he was interested in what we were doing in terms of in the whole of Scottish football.
”We had three or four really good chats and it was really close.
“The tipping scale was that he wanted part-time and that put us right in the mix.
“But with Arbroath, up playing in the Championship against the Lowland League, we can’t compete at this moment in time with a team at that level.
“You do miss out on players in that case and Kris probably feels he’s got another season or two playing at that level of football.
“He’s played at a high level all his days. But he thanked us for our time and wished us all the best.”
Aitken added: “We were in for Gregor as well.
“We met with him and his representatives a few times and put a good deal to him.
"It was really touch and go and I had a conversation with him when I was on holiday last week.
“I know him well from our time together at Dumbarton and he indicated that he wanted to stay full-time and that ruled us out.
“We were really close with that one again, but it was a case of wanting to try and stay full-time.
“It was like Kris Doolan, it was really close.”
Kilby remain in the market for a striker to boost their options and Aitken added: “There’s plenty of calls out there to players and agents, so we are just waiting for a trigger to get moves going.”
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