Ian McCall scouring loan market in bid to enhance Partick Thistle’s Championship promotion hopes

Partick Thistle boss Ian McCall remains hopeful he can still add to his squad to boost their Championship promotion prospects.

The Jags boss, who brought versatile defender Connor McAvoy in on loan from English Premier League side Fulham on deadline day, admits he has been scouring the loan market since the January window closed.

The Firhill club were able to extend Lee Hodson’s loan deal from Kilmarnock and McCall has confirmed he would like to add another attacking option to his ranks, with his squad decimated by injuries in recent weeks.

Asked if there was a possibility of completing further transfer business, McCall said: “I hope so. I would like to get one more boy in on loan, I think we need a wee bit of help at the top end of the pitch but we’ll see.

“We lost two players and that enabled us, along with the money The Jags Foundation put in, to extend Lee (Hodson) and bring in Connor (McAvoy).”

McCall, who will remain without injured trio Ross Docherty, Anton Dowds and Cammy Smith for Saturday’s league match against Cove Rangers, is looking forward to pitching McAvoy in for his debut after receiving some exciting reports from the London club.

He stated: “We knew about him at the start of the season. We have had conversations about him and he actually turned down one of the clubs in the Premiership because he thought he had more chance of getting games here, which I think shows a lot about his character.

“I’ve seen him play once but I spoke to quite a few people about him, including the Scotland Under-21s manager, who I hold in really high regard. He comes very highly recommended and he has just signed a new contract at Fulham. The one thing he has got is pace so we look forward to seeing him in action.”

Aberdeenshire-based Cove, spending their first season in Scottish football’s second tier after winning the League One title last term, sit just five points above the relegation zone ahead of making the trip down to Glasgow’s West End.

Following a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to bottom-of-the-table Hamilton last weekend, McCall insists his side can’t afford any further slip ups as they enter the business end of the campaign.

He added: “We watched the game against Ayr United and it was very, very tight – the 3-0 game. Ayr took the lead with a deflection and the game was really even, then Mitch Megginson got sent off and that changed the game. So we are not reading too much into it.

“We know that if we can replicate the way we played in the first-half against Hamilton but with more of a cutting edge, more people in positions where they can score, I’ll be happy. It is a three points that we have got to go and take, but it is reaching the stage of the season where it doesn’t matter whether it’s Cove, Hamilton, Queen’s Park or Dundee. If we can get three points it may tighten things up in the top four.

“A win on Saturday would be seven wins in our last 10 games. I would take that for my next 10 games if I was a manager for the next 10 years.”