East Kilbride boss Stevie Aitken insists they will need to be at their best this weekend to make sure his reign starts with a victory.
Kilby kick-off the new campaign away to University of Stirling on Saturday and the eyes of the league will be on the Forthbank Stadium to see how the big-spending side perform in their first competitive outing.
With the likes of ex-Partick Thistle star Chris Erskine and former Rangers midfielder Kyle Hutton joining the ranks, expectation is high for the two-time Lowland champions as they bid to wrestle the title from holders Kelty Hearts.
The Students have stung Kilby before and Aitken knows there’s no room for error this time around.
He said: “We want to start on the front foot, but we know teams will be out to play well against us.
“They’ve seen the recruitment we’ve done in the summer and we know Stirling Uni are well organised and they will be a fit team.
“They’ve caused East Kilbride problems before, so we need to make sure we are at our best.”
EK will be without a handful of key players for the clash with Sean Winter, Ricky Miller, Steven Old and Daryl Healy all ruled out.
Aitken added: “We’ve picked up a few knock in pre-season, which we didn’t want, but these things happen.
“We’ve got guys like Ricky and Steven who haven’t trained for weeks, but the players are excited and we’ve trained well this week.”
Aitken’s brother Chris and Rangers legend Ian Durrant complete the Kilby coaching team and the younger Aitken sibling is relishing their dugout debuts in the Lowland League.
Chris said: “It’s been a long time coming for us all and the boys can’t wait to play real football and get back to the nitty gritty.
"You’ve got to get off to a good start and we are well aware of that.”
However, the Kilby coach admits he is prepared for clubs to have a real go and wouldn’t be surprised if there were some shocks along the way.
He added: “With the players we’ve signed, there’s going to be a scalp. These teams will want to get one over on us and we will be prepared for that.
“It’s up to us to do the talking on the pitch. We know what’s required.
“We won’t be worrying about what Kelty or other teams are doing because we know if we look after ourselves, we’ll be fine.”
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