JIM Paterson and Steve MacLean, Pilgrims who have been linked with moves away from Home Park, were given a ringing endorsement after Argyle lost 2-1 to Livingston on Monday night.

Jim won the late penalty from which Luke Summerfield scored emphatically to reduce the Greens' arrears, while second-half substitute Steve was highly influential in an advanced midfield role.

A move to Mark McGhee's Aberdeen has been suggested for the two Scots, but Luggy has not ruled either or both of them out of being in Argyle's starting 11 when the Coca-Cola Championship season kicks off at Crystal Palace on August 8.

"Jim's done well," said Luggy. "Jim's had a good pre-season.

"Jim's up the pecking-order at this moment in time with his performances. He's been one of the main performers in pre-season.

"Steve could be our best performer in pre-season. He came on today and definitely got involved in the game.

"I write nobody off at this minute. I've got to pick the best 11 players for the game against Crystal Palace.

"Mark McGhee has had a chat with me about their availability - that's as far as it went. We've had one conversation and that was about three weeks ago."

Luggy admitted his team was not on the pace, and that their finishing needs honing.

However, he said: "I don't care about the results at this minute in time as long as I see things that I need to work on in training and improvement.

"To be fair, tonight's game gives me the positive as far as knowing what I need to put into my players as far as a sharpness is concerned.

"We've got to peak for three weeks time. We not got to be peaking now.

"We've seen our weaknesses today, and our problems. We've got to have more belief that we can pass the ball.

"There's a sharpness missing in the team at this minute in time. Obviously our finishing is not the best at this minute.

"We have created an awful lot of chances and not taken them, not hit the target.

"The boys are complaining a wee bit that they're a wee bit leggy, so we've got to get down to the sharp stuff and the quick feet.

"As the game unfolded, we got better, which shows our general fitness is in decent nick."

Livi opened the scoring when Krisztián Timár put through his own goal midway through the first half, and doubled their tally early in the second when the same player slipped to allow Tony McParland through to score.

Luggy said: "You can't legislate for two mistakes like our centre-back made and expect to win football games.

"At the end of the day, it's a lesson learned."