Hamilton boss Brian Rice says he's close to bringing "two or three" new players in next week, while he also hopes to welcome injured players back for the Premier Sports Cup clash at Falkirk next Saturday.
Accies got their Group E campaign off to a good start last night with a 1-0 win at Edinburgh City, with Callum Smith scoring the only goal.
The League Two side gave Accies some uncomfortable moments, with sub Ryan Shanley forcing a crucial block from Blackburn Rovers loan keeper Joe Hilton on his debut, but the Lanarkshire side took all three points.
Afterwards, boss Rice told Accies TV that he hopes to significantly boost his squad by the time they travel to the Falkirk Stadium in seven days.
"It's frustrating [to have so many injuries], but there will be two or three bodies coming in next week, and there will be three or four lads who weren't available tonight training over the weekend, or training with the squad on Monday.
"So I'm hopeful that we'll have another five or six bodies available next weekend."
In the meantime, Rice says it's up to young stars like Reegan Mimnaugh, Marley Redfern, Jack Garrad, Daryl Meikle, Adam McGowan, Myles Gaffney and Chris McGinn to prove they're worth their chance, having been part of the squad at Ainslie Park last night.
Rice said: "I've said to them this is the ideal opportunity to go and stake a claim.
"There aren't many kids at other clubs that are getting first-team football, and circumstances are taking us to where we are at the moment, so for these kids it's an opportunity for them.
"They've got to grasp it."
Rice was pleased with the win, and felt Accies could have been more comfortable.
"The objective was to come here and get three points, and we've done that," he said.
"I thought at half-time we could have been three or four goals up, and we had to make a couple of changes due to circumstances.
"It's very early in the campaign to be playing cup games, but it's just the way it is, so the objective is to get out of the group - we didn't get out of it last year.
"We've made a good start."
Though City threatened late on with that Shanley chance, Rice says Hilton did well on his debut, and was pleased to see Lewis Smith get 58 minutes under his belt.
He said: "I think it was the only save he had to make in the full match. They had a couple of free kicks from distance, but never troubled him, I thought he was switched on, his concentration was good, his kicking was good.
"He's only 21 years old but he's got a presence about him, and we're delighted to have him.
"Everyone knows what I think about Lewis Smith. He likes to play, he gets on the ball and he does things that other players can't do.
"He's just got that knack of being different. We need to keep him fit, get some training into him, get a bit of sharpness into him, and let him go and play football."
Rice says there won't be any old-pals act when he heads to Falkirk next week, a club with which he has a long association as a player and a coach, and who tried to prise him away from New Douglas Park as their new boss during the summer.
He said: "I had a long, long period at Falkirk as a player and as a coach, it's a club that I know very, very well, but we need to go there next Saturday and get the result."
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