A new era at St Cuthbert Wanderers gets under way on Saturday.
The Kirkcudbright side has gone through plenty of changes since winning the South of Scotland League last season with Josh Gardner taking over from boss Jordan Williamson after he left for Lowland League side Dalbeattie Star.
And Gardner’s new-look side begin their season against Upper Annandale in the League Cup on Saturday.
Gardner said: “I’ve tried to find out as much information as I possibly can about them. They’ve got a new manager, a few players have left and a few players have come in – a bit like ourselves.
“I’m just really looking forward to getting started. All the boys are looking forward to it and we want to get off to a flying start. We want to try to stamp our football on the game early in the season and continue that through as well.
“We’ve another tough game against Stranraer the following week, which will be a different test altogether.”
Saints rounded off their pre-season preparations with a 2-1 win at Gardner’s former club AS Airdrie on Saturday, Conor MacDonald and Derek Armstrong scoring for the league champions.
Gardner said: “The opening 15 minutes we were quite sloppy but then the way we finished the first half was more the standard I’m looking for. We scored two goals in that period and missed a penalty as well and missed another couple of chances as well so we could have been 4-0 up.
“We came out in the second half and with it being pre-season we made about five subs at half-time. It disrupted our flow a wee bit but that’s nothing on the guys who came on, they did well.
“We had another couple of chances, one cleared off the line and a goal chalked off that shouldn’t have been.
“It was a worthwhile exercise and it was further improvement from the week before. It’s getting a wee bit better every week. I saw a lot of good things that I liked and a few things that need worked on as well which is going to be the case for a brand new team.
“I feel that because the games have been hard I’ve learned more about the squad than if I took a game against a lesser team.”
