PARS boss James McPake has admitted the club need to add players quickly and avoid a “worrying situation”.

Last Friday, he made midfielder Chris Mochrie his fourth addition since taking over at East End, and watched the on-loan Dundee United midfielder mark his debut with a goal from the bench in Saturday’s win at FC Edinburgh.

With two wins from two League One matches, and a pair of clean sheets to boot, it has been a bright opening to the campaign but McPake told Press Sport this week that he is “not naive enough” to think his squad has enough depth to go through the full season.

With the Club Academy Scotland (CAS) Performance Under-18 League kicking off last Friday – which saw the Pars academy side win 6-1 at Ross County – the boss was only able to name five substitutes for the match in the capital, due to several of the club’s youngsters, who have been involved in the first team squad this season, taking part.

“We have a very, very thin squad, worryingly at times, and we need to be very careful with the players we’ve got, more careful than we really want to be if I’m honest,” McPake explained.

“Training has to be adapted to the size of squad we’ve got. It’s not an excuse – we are trying to add to it – but what we also have to do is be careful and be cute in what we’re doing because we’re a couple of injuries away from, for want of another word, a crisis.

“If that happens, it’s not going to be great, so we need to be clever in what we’re doing in training. That’s where our very good medical and sports science department come into it, and dictate a lot of what we do.

“We’re not daft enough, and we’re not naive enough, to think that this squad’s going to be enough to get us through a season.

“As I say, we do need to add. We know that. We are very light; even for training at the minute we’re very light.

“Yeah, it’s been a real good start, and all’s going well at the minute, but there’s always that worry as a manager that you’re one or two injuries away from a crisis, and a real, worrying situation.

“We need to get that resolved, and resolved quickly.”

McPake, who described Robbie Crawford, who has been training with the Pars, as a “fantastic footballer that’s been a credit to work with”, will welcome Chris Hamilton back from suspension for Saturday’s visit of Montrose.

He has called for what he described as a “ridiculous rule”, which saw the summer signing banned for the first two games as a result of bookings accumulated last term, to be changed, but said he has “got a fight on his hands” to return to the starting line-up following the team’s positive start.

Nonetheless, McPake is pleased to have Hamilton, who he says has “different qualities to the other midfielders”, available once more, and was also impressed with Mochrie’s start to his Athletic stint – and his versatility.

“We were delighted to get it over the line and, what I thought he showed when he came on, was that wee bit of composure that we lacked a little bit,” he continued.

“He’s a good footballer; he sees a pass, he can pick a pass, and he’s got a goal in him as well. He can play higher up the pitch as well and, at the minute, it can’t be seen as a luxury, or it just can’t be seen as a help. It’s a necessity that we’ve got players that can do that because we are so short on numbers.”