Cough pleased to get his man!

‘Gers boss John Coughlin has admitted he’s delighted to have finally signed up striker Greg Rutherford ahead of this weekend’s William Hill 2nd Round Scottish Cup clash with Hawick Royal Albert.

22 year-old Rutherford spent 4 seasons with Hartlepool, debuting in 2010.

“I think it’s been apparent to everybody that we need goals in the team. Our goals against record is actually decent – we’ve conceded less than anybody else in the league.

“We haven’t lost a game away from home and other than the Elgin game which was a sore one for all involved, we’re not leaking goals. But at the other end I felt we could do with more firepower.

“If we want to change from a mid-table team to a team that is challenging, then we need to score goals, so we looked around and have been looking around for quite some time. I think everyone was well aware that it’s been an ongoing process.”

Coughlin landed Rutherford after an unsuccessful attempt by the former Alloa Athletic frontman to return to England, where he has had spells with both Hartlepool United and Dover Athletic, and the manager revealed he may debut in tomorrow’s game.

“Greg has only just became available. We knew about him at the start of the season but he’d went down South to get a full-time deal. It didn’t quite work out for him and once available we were ready to have a go at getting him signed up ourselves.

“I was down with the Chairman signing him up yesterday and we got the deal done very quickly. Greg is very keen to get started and hopefully, all things going well, we might see him on the park at some stage in tomorow’s game.”

On what the addition means for the team, Coughlin believes Rutherford’s arrival will only serve to benefit the squad, enhancing the competition for places and depth available to him.

“It’s an addition to what I think is already a good squad – especially when all are fit and available for selection. It will give us more choices up front, a bit more pace and the runs in behind that we’ve maybe been lacking.

“I think that kind of player could really link well with a physical striker like Jordyn, so I think he could certainly help Jordyn as well.”