Dumbarton manager Stevie Aitken is looking to add another defender to the squad this week to help cope with recent injuries.

Speaking after Saturday’s 1-0 victory over promotion hopefuls Dundee United, the Sons boss said that injuries to centre-backs Fraser Wright and Darren Barr had forced his hand, and the club were looking to recruit another player as soon as possible.

He said: “We’ll look to bring in another player this week hopefully, a defender. Fraser Wright is injured, Darren Barr is injured.

“We had Mark Docherty filling in today and he was terrific.

“We’ll have a look towards the end of the transfer window and see what we can do and if there are any deals to be done.

“Fraser needs a couple of weeks rest, Darren Barr is getting closer all the time so we’re hoping a week or two for him.”

And with Jamie Barclay’s deal finishing after the game, Dumbarton now have three keepers on the books for the season – Alan Martin, Jamie Ewings and Mark Brown.

Aitken said bringing Martin in was done to improve the squad and that he had received extra transfer funds from the club to secure extra signings in recent weeks – but that may mean that some players may have to be let go to balance the books.

He added: “If you have to improve the squad then you have to do that, and I think Alan Martin is going to do that, there’s no doubt about that.

“The club’s been great. We’ve not got a lot to deal with, they’ve tried to make as much available as they can.

“And ideally I’d like to bring four or five in but you can’t compete with the other teams that can do it. We have to live within our means and the club will do that.

“They’ve managed to get some [extra money] in. They’ve obviously understood that we’re short but we’ll have to balance the books, and maybe towards the end of the season players will have to leave but at this moment in time if we keep getting results like that we’ll be fine.”