Cove Rangers boss Paul Hartley reckons recruiting during the January window will prove challenging – particularly from Premiership clubs.
Top-flight clubs are due to return to action on January 17 but recent incidents will have put them on high-alert about what numbers they have available.
Dundee travelled to Aberdeen last month with a severely-depleted squad due to a Covid outbreak, while St Mirren were forced to field several youth-team players in their draw with Celtic after an increase in cases.
Hartley is looking to add to his Cove squad this month, as they try to strengthen their position at the top of League One, but concedes it will not be an easy prospect.
He said: “If you’re going to try get a player from the Premiership, they’re going to be reluctant just now.
“They’re on their break and have been affected by one thing or another and be low on numbers. If they’re going to let them out, it might be the last few days of the window as they want to keep as many players as they can to keep their games on.
“We want to add some bodies into the group. You look at the squad we had on Sunday and that tells you, it’s important that things happen.
“We’re active and we want to add quality. It needs to be good players that come into our squad, we can’t just pick a number to be part of the group. It needs to be someone who can contribute to part of the team.”
Cove have midfielder Fin Robertson on loan from Dundee, with a decision to be made on whether he remains with the Aberdeen side or returns to his parent club.
Discussions will also be had over the futures of Ross Draper and Ola Adeyemo. Draper’s loan deal with Elgin City is due to run out while Adeyemo’s short-term contract expires this month.
Cove are in action today against Clyde at Broadwood, a place they lost at earlier this season.
Hartley added: “We weren’t at our best that day, despite having a lot of chances.
“If you’re not on your game you can get found out. We know now that every game we play we have to perform at our maximum levels.
“It’s a good month for us. We started the new year well and we’ll take it a game at a time. Saturday is the next big game for us.
“In this league it’s hard to go on a run like we have but we need to maintain the high standards. We don’t step off it.”
Iain Vigurs, Jamie Masson and Harry Milne are back in the squad after missing the win over Peterhead last weekend.