East Kilbride boss Kevin Rutkiewicz expects goalkeeper Conor Brennan to remain focused for their Lowland League Cup semi-final against Broomhill today, ahead of his move to Stenhousemuir.
And Rutkiewicz says supporters' player of the year Brennan, 28, can end his time at Kilby on a high by grabbing silverware in his last game, should they reach the final.
Brennan - who is also an under-18 goalkeeper coach at Rangers - was announced on Wednesday as a new signing by Stephen Swift's side, having been at Kilby for two years.
The K-Park boss admits he didn't expect to be replacing his goalkeeper at this point, but says he would have brought in competition either way.
But he says a move to the League Two club is a promising one for Brennan, and wishes him all the best.
Rutkiewicz said: "Conor has a cup to win and he came here to win things, so he can certainly leave the club, having won silverware.
"It's as good an opportunity as he's going to have, and it's his last opportunity at East Kilbride.
"I would expect Conor to be fully-focused, first only on the semi-final, and then if we're lucky enough to get beyond that, the final.
"It's football. I'm disappointed, but not wholly surprised, and we need to find a keeper.
"We were definitely looking to bring competition in for Conor, so this changes the landscape a wee bit, but it's football, you're prepared for everything.
"We have several players out of contract and we'll be prepared to replace every one of them if we can't sit down and negotiate those deals with them."
Rutkiewicz says he was in conversation with Northern Irishman Brennan a lot since taking over from Chris Aitken last month, and says he will work hard to bring in the right keeper.
He said: "I'm not wholly surprised by the timing of everything. Conor has been pretty open with me, we've had an honest relationship, albeit a short one, and he certainly goes with my best wishes and I wish him the best of luck.
"I hope things work out for him, I hope he does really well. He's a good player. He got fans' player of the year and he's a quality keeper, so he will certainly be missed, but football stands still for no-one.
"We've got to make sure we're active, we're on the front foot, and that we're pursuing the right fit to replace him."
Rutkiewicz says he has still to sit down with several players in the squad to negotiate new deals, and hopes a cup final place against either East Stirlingshire or Bo'ness United might help with that.
He said: "We'll be sitting down with five or six younger lads this week, boys from the 20s who we're looking to keep, to beef up the first-team squad.
"We'll hopefully navigate the semi-final and I think it's a better point then to be talking to boys. You're in a final, everybody wants to win that.
"But we're certainly looking to talk to a few boys about staying on and hopefully we can get some positive outcomes there."
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