WESTON boss Craig Laird says he wants to add two more players to his squad, but says his current players can challenge for automatic promotion this season.

Craig says he is looking to bring in a new centre-back and left-sided defender in this transfer window after watching his charges draw an engaging encounter against nPower Championship side Bristol City on Tuesday evening.

Ahead of his second full season in the Blue Square South at the Woodspring Stadium, the former Bridgwater Town boss says he has no new injury problems in the squad to deal with, with only striker Marcus Duharty currently out of first-team action.

City took a strong team to Weston on Tuesday, with first teamers Christian Ribeiro, Kalifa Cisse, Lee Johnson and Nicky Hunt in the squad, and took the lead after 22 minutes when striker Aaron Amadi-Holloway found the net.

But Weston were never overawed by their opponents and equalised through Kane Ingram after Ribeiro’s back pass had left keeper Lewis Carey short.

City re-took the lead after half-time through a Yannick Bolasie penalty after Matt Villis had upended Joe Edwards, but Weston kept pressing and got a deserved equaliser when Nat Pepperall kept his calm to slot past Carey five minutes before full-time.

The result followed a 1-1 draw against an Under-21s team from Cardiff City on Friday evening.

Craig, who added that Sahr Kabba had been used sparingly during pre-season due to a minor back problem, said: “We’ve got the attitude this year that we’re going to challenge to be right at the top. We’re confident that we can be up there at the end of the season if we can keep our squad fit.

“I’d like to bring in those two players on permanent deals, especially as we only have three centre-backs at the club, but we haven’t got any specific targets just yet.”

The club picked up an unexpected cash windfall last week when league sponsors Blue Square Bet sponsored a horse on behalf of the Stewards’ Sprint Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.

The horse came first to land the club �3,000 and Craig said: “I don’t know what the chairman would like to do with the money, but I think it would be good to give it to the non-paid staff at the club.”