Pars take former Dons striker Shankland on trial

Dunfermline could be set to snap up Lawrence Shankland after taking the former Aberdeen striker on trial.

The 21-year-old left the Dons last month following four years at Pittodrie and has joined the Pars for pre-season training.

Shankland played just 17 times for Aberdeen after moving from Queen’s Park in 2013 and was farmed out twice to St Mirren and finished last season on loan at Morton.

The Scotland under-21 cap also had a successful loan spell with Dunfermline in 2014, scoring seven times in 14 appearances, and is one of a number of players manager Allan Johnston is weighing up deals for.

He said: “We want to strengthen and we’re looking at a few positions.

“We’re getting closer to the squad we’re going to have but we’re still probably looking for another three or four, so that we’ve got real competition in all areas of the park. We’ve got a few trialists in that have definitely given us food for thought; they’re good players.

“Shanks is in and we’ve got five or six trialists in at the moment. We’ll be getting in more as well.”

Former Dundee attacker Greg Stewart’s loan move to Aberdeen has earned former club Cowdenbeath a £3,000 windfall.

The 27-year-old made the seasonlong switch from Birmingham City on Tuesday and the Blue Brazil insist they will receive a ‘solidarity payment’ from the Dons after the player spent four years at Central Park before moving to Dundee in 2014.

A Cowdenbeath statement read: “The cross border nature of Greg’s move means that Cowden will receive an additional solidarity payment from the Dons of some £3,000.”