Livingston boss David Martindale has admitted he needs more from his strikers, with the Lions having scored the second fewest goals in the top flight this season.
And he warned fans not to get too carried away about the arrival of Joel Nouble, who is set to return to the club in January following a successful loan spell in the Championship with Arbroath.
Bruce Anderson has impressed at times since his arrival from Aberdeen and leads the way with four goals in the Premiership, but Jack Hamilton and Harrison Panayiotou have struggled to make an impact – which has led to midfielder Andrew Shinnie being deployed as a lone striker at times.
Speaking to the West Lothian Courier, Martindale said: “Bruce came in to Livingston to be a No.9 and I kept Jack Hamilton and Gavin Reilly at the club. It was very evident early on that Gav needed to go elsewhere to play.
“Bruce has done really well for us at times but I think there’s a lot more to come from him and he needs to learn how to play as a lone striker. He needs to be able to take the team up the park.
“With Jack Hamilton, how do I do that? He’s still a very young guy learning his trade and it probably needs to be done in the air and gambling runners getting onto flick-ons.
“His link-up play has to improve because there’s a big step up from the Championship to the Premiership and he needs to be more proactive rather than reactive.
“But that’s all part of being a young player learning the game and that’s why he’s needed to go out on loan, so he can play and learn. We’re working hard with him so he can tick all the boxes we need.”
Martindale added: “Andrew Shinnie gives me a little bit of everything. Arguably the best games we’ve played this season he’s been the No.9.
“Shinnie’s a very clever footballer. He should score that chance against Hearts, of course he should, but he’s got the intelligence to be in that position in the first place.
“And when he drops in that allows others a bit more space and to press up the park so we actually have an extra body when we are attacking when he does that.
“Harry Panayiotou has needed a lot of conditioning and we’ll maybe have to explore a loan move for him when we bring Joel Nouble back from Arbroath.
“He’s probably got the best link-up play at the club but he’s played National League in England for two years and needs to learn and adapt to Scottish football in the Premiership.
“If you put him in the Championship, I think he performs really well and that helps his development.”
Martindale is set to recall Nouble in January following a spell where the former Aldershot man has turned into a cult hero at Arbroath following a string of impressive displays.
And, while he played largely as a winger down in England, the Livi boss sees him as a no.9, saying: “We had him in summer camp with us and I really liked the look of him as a central striker even though he'd really been a no.11 at Aldershot.
“I do believe he will help us. He’s good in the air, quick, got great link-up play and is very intelligent.
“But I would say that fans need to be cautious because it is a big step-up and I probably would have liked to have seen him get a few more goals, but he has played well at Arbroath.
“In most games we’ve been creating chances and hopefully we can get to a point where we start taking more of them.”
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