Gable Endies to get back to work as club hosts family fun day

Montrose will start to gear up for life in League 1 on Sunday as boss Stewart Petrie welcomes his players back for pre-season.

The morning session at Links Park will be followed by a family fun day at the ground from 12pm until 4pm with fans being given a chance to meet their titlewinning heroes, the management team as well as have their photo taken with the League 2 trophy.

Admission is free to the event that will also include games for children, a barbecue and beer tent, but before all that, Petrie will put his squad through their paces in a training session with the first competitive action just around the corner in the Betfred Cup at Falkirk on July 14.

The manager is still on the hunt for a couple of additions to his roster although he admitted it has been slightly frustrating so far having missed out on former Hibs and Dundee United midfielder John Rankin who opted to join a club closer to home in Clyde, along with full-back Jason Thomson with the ex-Raith captain signing for League 1 Angus rivals Arbroath.

Petrie said: “We start back for pre-season on Sunday.

“There is a family fun day at Links Park in the afternoon so we will have the lads training in the morning and then we will all go along to the event.

“After that though we will be back training in Perth as normal.

“We are still looking to bring a couple in but there is nothing to report at the moment.

“Obviously we missed out on John Rankin.

“I was hopeful of bringing John to the club but he has admitted that Clyde is close to his home and that will cut down on his travelling.

“We were also interested in bringing in Jason Thomson but he has gone to Arbroath.

“We are still on the hunt for a wing-back but our main priority remains a striker and we have missed out on one or two, so overall it has been a bit frustrating.”

Two of the players reporting back for pre-season training, Lewis Milne and new signing Josh Skelly, are still carrying injuries from the last campaign.

Petrie said: “Lewis is still recovering from the injury he suffered in the last game of the season.

“He went over his ankle against Elgin so we will continue to monitor that.

“Josh is also needing to do a bit of work with the physio after having a hamstring problem all last season.”