Hillcoat signing for Brechin is a major surprise. The keeper has hardly played for Ayr over the last two seasons so for him to find himself another club so quickly, and one a division higher, is a bit of a surprise. Hillcoat had two spells with Saints, the first in the late 1980s and the second in 2002 after we had loaned Ludovic Roy to St. Johnstone. He played for a few months and had some good saves before leaving in the summer.
Ian Ross signing for Stranraer isn't as much of a surprise, but it might be to the Alloa Athletic fans who thought he'd re-signed for them! Ross was a vital part of our tital winning team of 2000, before being injured for all but a few games of the SPL season. When he returned to action in 01/02 he was fantastic, but his form dipped a bit and he signed for SPL side Partick Thistle in January 2003. His spell there was ruined by injury and he was released in late 2004 before linking up with former Saints boss Tom Hendrie at second division Alloa.
It will be interesting to see how the pair do at their new clubs, hopefully they won't do too well against us!