Last Saturday, htafc.com reported that manager Andy Ritchie had missed out on the loan signing of Charlton striker Izale McLeod after he opted for Championship football at Colchester United and today the Gaffer let us know that his search continues.

"I've made approaches for a couple of other strikers this week; Craig Beattie of West Bromwich Albion and Shefki Kuqi of Crystal Palace (pictured). However, the pattern on both of those perspective moves followed that of our approach for McLeod," Ritchie explained to the official website.

"The lure of Championship football is proving to be too much for those players and as soon as we registered our interest, at least two Championship clubs made a move for them and that put paid to our move.

"I think that the fact we are trying to compete with Championship clubs for players is proof that we are aiming for loan targets that possess real quality. As I've said before, I don't think it would be as much of a problem if I were aiming to bring in an unproven teenager from a Premiership club, but that's not what I want - I want somebody with proven quality who will improve our team."