Lowestoft Town joint boss Ady Gallagher has confirmed the Guentchev brothers, Lubo and Iavor, have left Crown Meadow to sign professional contracts with Bulgarian second division side FC Lyubimets.

Lubo Guentchev, who has reportedly signed a three-year contract, will be remembered fondly by Blues fans for his scoring of spectacular goals, most notably from the halfway line against Harrow Borough last season.

Iavor made just one senior appearance for the club in the last league game of the season against Billericay.

Gallagher admitted the management team were keen for the brothers to remain at Lowestoft but they have decided to move back to their homeland. 'We won't be seeing them again and we wish them all the best in Bulgaria,' said Gallagher, whose side opened their pre-season campaign with a 2-0 defeat against Kirkley & Pakefield on Tuesday evening at Walmer Road.

'We wanted them to stay but we are not going to get too down about it.

'We are never short of players that want to play for us and we will move on from them.'

Gallagher admitted the club is still looking to add two more players to the squad before the start of the season. Three Portuguese players are training with the squad at the moment but Lowestoft are keen to see them in a few more friendlies before making a decision.

'We've got a couple of things going on and we are still hoping to add to the squad,' he added. 'We're looking at three Portuguese players – one of which came on against Kirkley and looked very dangerous in the wide areas. But we will wait and see how things develop.

'We want to bring in players with a level of consistency – that's what wins you leagues. You want your players to be a seven or an eight out of 10 every week.

'It's no good being hot one week and cold the other. That can be frustrating for managers.'

Gallagher wasn't concerned by the Trawlerboys' 2-0 defeat against neighbours Kirkley and felt his side kept the ball well for long periods.

'I thought our overall performance was quite pleasing – I was pleased with how the new lads settled into the side and the most important thing is to get through without any serious injuries.

'We kept the ball well at times and we created a lot of chances. Considering we were integrating four new players into the side I thought we gelled together quite well.

'It's all about the first game of the season – anything that happens in pre-season pales into insignificance when that comes around.

'We never like losing, we want to win as many games as we can to try and get into the winning habit but you have to look at the bigger picture. It was a good work-out for our lads against Kirkley – we had plenty of the ball and we managed to pin them in their own half for long spells but we will look to be more clinical and also cut out the mistakes to ensure we don't concede silly goals.'