Mixu hopes to recruit striker and keeper

HIBS boss Mixu Paatelainen today revealed he hopes to sign a striker and goalkeeper before the transfer window closes on Monday – but admitted the deals could go down to the midnight deadline.

Frantic negotiations are going on behind the scenes in a bid to secure the new arrivals who would join summer signings David van Zanten, Fabian Yantorno, Steven Thicot, Joe Keenan and Steve Pinau in Paatelainen's squad.

While agreeing the move to put the deadline back to September 1, and thereby avoiding a bureaucratic nightmare of the transfer window closing on a Sunday night, will help, Paatelainen believes he might require every minute of the extension to push his proposed deals through.

He said: "I'm still hoping to add one striker and a goalkeeper by midnight on Monday but we will have to wait and see.

"There are talks going on non-stop all the time. The 24-hour delay won't make a massive difference but it will help as it obviously gives us another day and I hope that makes all the difference.

"Even with the extra time it might go right down to the wire, these things often do as usually there's a chain reaction, one move somewhere starts everything off."

Paatelainen declined to reveal who his No.1 targets in both positions might be.

While battling to bring those final signings in, Paatelainen also has the task of lifting his players for Saturday's SPL clash with Motherwell following their shock Co-operative Insurance Cup exit at the hands of Morton.

Paatelainen may be angry at the decisions by referee Iain Brines which he felt helped contribute to Hibs downfall but today he insisted he was delighted with his team's performance even if they did scorn a succession of openings.

He said: "I was really happy with the performance, things are starting to fall into place. There will be hiccups as well but as long as the trend is upwards, our performances keep improving although obviously you need the results to go with them."

Paatelainen expects both goalkeeper Andy McNeil and defender Chris Hogg to be fit for Saturday after the pair suffered a touch of concussion following clashes during the Morton defeat while striker Colin Nish should also recover from the "dead leg" which forced him to come off.

Meanwhile, Paatelainen will be prepared to give skipper Rob Jones and winger Alan O'Brien, who both missed Tuesday night's match with knee injuries, every chance to prove their fitness.

The pair have been receiving intensive treatment and Paatelainen said: "They are getting better, I don't know if they will be fit enough but we'll even wait to Saturday morning for them."

Paatelainen was given further food for thought ahead of the weekend having taken in yesterday's 3-0 reserve win over Falkirk in which Ross Campbell scored twice while both Pinau and Yantorno played the full 90 minutes.