DANNY LENNON hopes to recruit a striker in the coming days as St Mirren head into what could be one of the most important weeks of their season.

A 3-0 defeat to Ross County on Saturday leaves Saints sitting second bottom of the SPFL Premiership table without a win to their name from three games.

With Hearts making great strides as they look to eat into their 15-point handicap as quickly as possible, Lennon and his players already find themselves under pressure with two big games on the horizon.

St Mirren begin the defence of the League Cup tomorrow night with a tricky tie away to Queen of the South, before Partick Thistle are the visitors to St Mirren Park on Saturday.

The Jags had been expected to struggle this season following their promotion from the first division but have surprised many with their strong start to the campaign.

A win for Alan Archibald's team at the weekend would widen the gap between them and St Mirren and would leave Lennon's side in real bother at the wrong end of the table.

A lack of firepower has been a real problem with Saints managing just one goal in their first three league games and Lennon is desperate to add a centre-forward to his squad.

One option is thought to be Artur Rattel, an Estonian who was on trial at Kilmarnock earlier in the summer, while Lennon also revealed he was close to landing an unnamed French forward.

Jake Caprice, the Blackpool right-back who was on trial at the Paisley club last week, is another who could be snapped up soon.

Lennon said: "Jake did very well in the week that we had him and it's a conversation I'll have with Blackpool.

"We've also got one over from France - a striker - that we hope to complete in the early part of next week."

St Mirren endured another difficult afternoon in the Highlands on Saturday as County cruised to their first league win of the season.

Stuart Kettlewell opened the scoring with a 20-yard rocket after only nine minutes before a double from former Buddie Richard Brittain, one a rebound after his penalty had been saved, put the seal on an impressive victory.

Lennon added: "I've got players who, potentially, can go out there and win a game for you. But I've also players who lacked concentration on Saturday and were punished three times for that. I think we had just about as many chances as Ross County.

"We don't seem to be getting that little rub of the green. We hope that in the coming weeks we can flick that coin and turn the goals we are conceding at the moment into goals for us."

Meanwhile, Saints defender Danny Grainger felt the goals could have been avoided. He said: "You look at the goals and they were all down to us, they weren't anything drastic by Ross County. They stuck to their game-plan and took their chances when they came along.

"We tried to change the way we played at Inverness and lost 3-0. The manager wants us to play football and we have players who can do it, but it's not happening at the minute.

"The boys are disappointed with the result but we can't believe how we lost the game 3-0 considering the chances we missed.

"Apart from a couple of early long-range shots from Richie Brittain and the three goals that was all they had. They took all their chances."

The 27-year-old added: "We can't complain about the result but we are not too disheartened yet. I don't think it's confidence. We are still passing the ball and are happy to take it even when it's tight."