Alloa boss Danny Lennon says he is happy to play the waiting game in the hunt for a new striker to replace their departed top scorer Liam Buchanan.

The Wasps former hitman, who signed a two year deal with Championship rivals Livingston last week, scored 17 goals for them over the season, but while the gaffer is fully aware of how difficult Buchanan will be to replace, he is determined to make sure he gets the right target.

The former St Mirren boss has revealed how the club did everything in their power to keep the lethal striker and how he also still hopes to convince two more of last season’s heroes to remain in Clackmannanshire.

Lennon told Advertiser sport: “Liam did fantasically well for us last season especially with his goal return and that is why at the club we tried everything in our power to try and keep him, but we cannot compete with a two year deal at a full time club. We have to respect his decision to go full time. I totally understand it and while it is a huge blow to lose him, we wish him well and thank him for the service.

“We must move on and look to the future now and it is a fantastic opportunity for someone else to come in. I am constantly looking for the right target and have been even while I was on holiday, but with the budget and resources that we have it is vital that we get each signing bang on.

“I am happy with how things are shaping up so far, but we still have offers out there at the moment. We are trying hard to keep Michael Doyle and Ben Gordon, but again they are holding out for full time football.

“Full time clubs cannot take every single player that is out there so I think we have to be patient on that front and I can see things really hotting up in terms of targets becoming available over the next week or so.” The former St Mirren boss paid tribute to all of the departed players from last season as he continues his rebuilding process at the Indodrill Stadium this summer and he reckons the club can do worse than look to rivals Dumbarton as to exactly what can be achieved in this division as a part time club.

The 46-year-old said: “The dimensions of our group have changed dramatically over the summer and with all respect to the previous group, who achieved so much here, as a club we have to strive to be better and we can look to Dumbarton as the example for that. they have retained their status quite comfortably over the last few seasons and that is where our ambitions must lie.

“We are beginning to gel the boys who are here together and that will continue over the course of pre season and we can look forward with excitement to see what this new group can achieve. It is quite common that when a side reaches a cup final that they then disperse the next season and that is certainly what has happened here.

“The players who have left will always have a place here and be welcomed back because they have created some fantastic memories for everyone involved at the club to share in.” Lennon urged for the fans patience as his side begin their pre-season matches against Edinburgh City on Wednesday night with his squad far from being the finished article and revealed that he will use the games to run the rule over more trialists coming into the club in the coming weeks.

He added: “We will use the pre-season games in the right manner and it is important to remember that this stage of the season it is a marathon and not a sprint. We want to peak in time for the cup games and the competitive action.

“It is exciting to get going in the Petrofac Cup games once again having done so well in the competition last term.

“We have a few of the boys who have tasted the final last year and that is fantastic for us to have. It would certainly be nice to go one step further this season, but we will take one game at a time.”