Paul Woods insists he has noticed a big step up in quality at training after a raft of new signings at East Kilbride over the summer.
The Kilby midfielder is one of the few players to remain at K-Park since Stevie Aitken took over as boss in June, and Woods has witnessed the likes of former top flight stars Chris Erskine, Paul Paton and Kyle Hutton join the squad.
Woods, 34, is now entering his third full season with EK having played under Stuart Malcolm, Brian Kerr and Martin Lauchlan.
And he has noticed a big difference in standard to the previous squads he’s played with.
He said: “The new signings have given all the boys a lift.
“And the quality has really gone up, so now the players who were here already need to go and show the new manager that they are capable of playing with these guys.
"But when you are playing with better players, it’s easier as well, and the quality of the training has just shot up.
“There were good players here last year, but it’s just gone up another level again and some of the stuff the guys are doing is great.
“Even just passing drills have stepped up and the work the manager and [coach] Ian Durrant are doing is really good.
“The standard as a whole has lifted completely and that can only be good for the rest of us.”
EK kick-off their league campaign on October 10 away to Stirling University.
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