CLYDE boss John Brown has decided against taking an Italian Serie C player on trial.

Simone Sovventino, 23, had arrived at the Bully Wee from Latina FC, and was desperate to land himself a deal with Clyde as he bids to carve out a new career in Scotland.

However the left-sided midfielder/striker has failed to impress hard-to-please Broadwood gaffer Brown after a couple of training sessions under his watchful eye.

Brown admitted: "We had Simone in after he had been recommended to me, but he is not what we are looking for in that area and in any case no better than we already have."

Following a solid showing against Rangers in their final pre-season outing of the summer, in which the Bully Wee only lost out to a Nacho Novo goal, Bomber is bullish about his side's prospects against SFL new boys Annan Athletic in tomorrow's Challenge Cup first round tie at Broadwood.

He said: "We know Annan will get a tremendous lift from playing their first fixture as an SFL side in the Challenge Cup and there is no way we will be taking them lightly.

"The Rangers game took our preparations to the level I had hoped for and I am pleased with both our shape and fitness and we are ready to get our teeth into competitive action."

Bomber added: "The attitude I have worked hard to instill in my players is that no matter the competition we want to win and that is exactly how we will approach this tie. The Challenge Cup is the first trophy up for grabs in the new season and we want to go as far as we can."

Brown will be without crocked trio Willie McLaren, Marc McCusker and Ruari MacLennan but new signing from Elversberg Michael Ohnesorge will be available.