DRAGONS' boss Dean Saunders is not letting up in his search for new talent to maintain the club's promotion challenge, especially with the transfer deadline set for 5.00pm on Thursday afternoon.

His latest target is Manchester City defender Sam Williamson, who could well be switching to the Racecourse - if the paperwork goes through in time.

There is the added complication of City being in Germany at the moment for their UEFA Cup tie with Schalke 04, so his contract will need to be faxed out to the City delegation for the official signatures to be applied.

Assuming all goes well, then the usual formalities of international clearance and Conference registration will need to be completed before the 5.00pm cut off point.

Sam has been with the Blues since the age of nine and graduated through their highly rated Academy to sign professional forms in the summer of 2006.

The Macclesfield-born defender was part of the City side that reached the FA Youth Cup final that same year before he established himself in the reserve team.

Having been an unused substitute in a League Cup tie with Norwich the following season, he finally got his first-team chance last April, when coming on as a substitute for Richard Dunne in a 3-1 win against Portsmouth.

Sven greets Sam after the final whistle

It was a cameo that earned the former Academy product the praise of then boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.

"I think Sam was very surprised when I told him he would be coming with the squad and even more surprised and happy when he got on," said the Swede.

"He had a big smile on his face in the dressing room after the win over Portsmouth and I thought he did very well.

"He certainly went out with the intention of showing the opposition who was boss."

Keep an eye on the official website for the latest developments throughout Thursday.

Meanwhile, Jon Brown's much more straight forward loan move from Cardiff City has been approved by the Football Conference and he will be available up until Saturday, 3 January, when we travel to Ebbsfleet United.