PORTHLEVEN have eased their striker crisis with the double capture of St Ives Town forward Ross Duncan and Wendron United’s Dan Quirke.

The Fishermen have moved quickly to replace injured striker Joe Wright, who is set for a spell on the sidelines after limping out of their 5-2 defeat to Mousehole last week.

With no other first-team strikers available, and reserve strikers Wade Brown and Fraser Paterson required for their Combination League fixtures, Port have added Duncan and Quirke to their ranks for their 16 remaining games in the South West Peninsula League Premier West.

Duncan has been in fine form for St Ives this season, scoring 17 goals in as many games to propel the side into second place in the St Piran League West, four points behind Penryn Athletic, who they face this weekend.

Duncan, who scored 13 goals in the Combination League last season, will likely be included in the St Ives squad for that match, with Porthleven agreeing with the Saints that he can fulfil their eight remaining fixtures and play for the Fishermen when they don’t have a game.

Porthleven co-manager Graham Blake said: “Ross is a good player, he’s played at a good level and I think he could do a good job for us.”

Quirke joins Duncan in making the switch to Gala Parc, joining from SWPL rivals Wendron United.

The forward, who also plays for RNAS Culdrose in the Combination League, has made a handful of appearances for Jack Greenwood’s side this season, scoring in a 4-2 win at Sticker and a 4-3 win at home to Godolphin Atlantic.

Quirke arrives at Porthleven after being recommended by the very man he is set to replace, having played alongside both Wright and Port 'keeper Martyn Webster at RNAS Culdrose.

“I had a chat with Wrighty and Martyn Webster who’ve played with him and they reckon he could be a good addition," Blake said, "so sometimes you’ve got to listen to your players as well and see what they think, and they said he was a good signing."

He added: “We’ve got Charlie Young back but we still feel that we wanted a striker, and this Dan Quirke, I’ve heard really good things about him. He's fast, he’s got a good touch on the ball, he scores goals. He could be a good addition.”

Blake has not completely given up hope on Wright featuring again this season and the club are awaiting results of a scan, but fears he has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.

“It’ll be amazing if he hasn’t done his ACL to be honest, it’s still swollen and bruised," he said. "I speak to him most days and we’re still fingers crossed that it was just a twist or something, but the fact that he heard it 'pop' kind of says it all really."