ALEX NEIL admits replacing 29-goal star Stevie May could prove to be his biggest challenge this summer.

The new Hamilton Accies boss has been putting his squad through their paces ahead of the SPFL Championship campaign and is still on the lookout for reinforcements.

May enjoyed a superb season at New Douglas Park last time out, ending the term with a string of individual awards and a contract extension from St Johnstone.

And Neil now faces the unenviable task of finding another striker to follow in May's footsteps next time out.

He said: "It is a difficult one. There are not too many guys about who are capable of scoring 29 goals for you in a season.

"It is a hard one but we have been working really hard to identify targets.

"The problem you have got is availability, they are tied to clubs and affordability in terms of you being able to pay their wages.

"It is an ongoing saga at the moment. We are trying really hard to sign a couple of players that are going to strengthen us.

"They have got to be available and we have got to be able to afford them so it is hard.

"Generally, the guys that are capable of doing that already have bigger clubs who have already snapped them up."

May was to prove vital for Accies in the closing weeks of the campaign as they hauled themselves away from the First Division relegation zone in the weeks after Neil replaced Billy Reid in the Lanarkshire hotseat.

Accies eventually finished fifth in the standings after a mixed campaign.

But Neil reckons their terrific end-of-season form has given them the ideal springboard for a promotion challenge.

He said: "We needed to go on a run.

"We were lurking down towards the bottom of the league and I don't think we should have been down there with the players that we had.

"We managed to turn it around and move up the league. The boys did great. It is credit to them.

"As a player, you want to give your best and finish as high up as possible.

"We managed to do that and hopefully we can go and kick on this year.

"It shows you what their potential is. They are capable of doing and winning games at this level.

"We haven't got Stevie May, who was a huge factor in what we did last year.

"Stevie scored the goals but the rest of the guys created them and kept the clean sheets towards the end of the season.

"They now know what they are capable of and they are a year older as well.

"A lot of them have got games under their belt now, guys like Ziggy Gordon, Stephen Hendrie and Micky Devlin.

"I am hoping they are going to kick on and improve this year."