Threave Rovers assistant gaffer Kevin Somerville admits he doesn’t know what to expect as they begin life in the West of Scotland League.
After quitting the South at the end of last season, the Castle Douglas side start their campaign in the fourth division of the West in Paisley against Glenvale on Saturday.
And it promises to be a whole new world for the players and coaching staff.
Somerville said: “We’ve got no idea what this league is going to be like in terms of the quality or the standard.
“Some of the teams in our league have been beating teams from a division or two above in pre-season, which is what we’ve been doing, so I think it’ll be tough.
“We need to see what the results are like in the first four or five games and then see where we are.
“Saturday is a trip into the unknown. We’ve looked at a few of their results in pre-season and they have had good results against teams from higher leagues.
“They look like quite a young team and we go there not knowing much about them but I think sometimes that’s good as you focus on your own job and what you can control.
“I think sometimes in the South you knew so much about other teams you tried to second guess them or worried about certain players.
“Because we know nothing about anybody in this league, all you can do is prepare your own guys. Our lads respond to that quite well as it’s all about them and their performance.”
Threave rounded off their pre-season preparations on Saturday with a 4-3 win over Maybole Juniors who sit two divisions above Threave in the West.
Somerville said: “It was one of the games we can use to judge where we’re at.
“We could probably have scored another three or four – we had a good goal ruled offside and hit the post so it was really pleasing.
“For the last game of pre-season you’re looking to build up a bit of performance and we’re happy we beat a team two leagues above us.
“We’re not happy with the goals we lost but we think they’re ones that, if it had been a competitive game, they wouldn’t have happened.
“It’s disappointing we lost some poor goals but we created lots of chances.
“The guys that have come in have taken us up a level. The guys that stayed with us have raised themselves to that level so we’re looking good.”
