Goal hero Daryl Healy insists the old East Kilbride would have "chucked it" against Stirling Uni on Saturday.
The big striker produced an acrobatic effort late on as 10-man Kilby came from 1-0 down to edge past the Students and get their season off to a winning start.
Kilby finished seventh in the table last season after Stuart Malcolm's ruinous reign sent them tumbling down the table.
However, Healy reckons new boss Stevie Aitken has brought a steeliness to the Lowland title hopefuls with his summer signings and the new-look squad have a fighting spirit that was lacking last term.
Healy, who joined Kilby last season, said: "Stirling are really fit, so they'll run all day.
"We gifted them a goal and that's the kind of goals they want because they'll take it, go 1-0 up and they'll just sit in and run.
"They are a dogged team with a couple of good players, but we just dug in.
"Last year we would have chucked it if we went 1-0 down.
"That shows you the boys we've brought in are fighters and we'll keep going in matches.
"The main thing was to win, so hopefully we can kick on from here.
"We've got big signings, folk have come from the Premiership and Championship, so every game against us will be like a cup final.
"Teams will sit in, they'll try and get breaks, but we just have to try and get past that, and match them, and hopefully our quality will win us the games."
Healy grabbed all three points for Kilby with an overhead kick from Darren Smith's cross six minutes from time.
He admits he could prove vital in the grand scheme of the season, where EK are expected to push defending champions Kelty Hearts for the title.
On his goal, he said: "It's no bad, eh? I've been injured pre-season, so I've only really trained last Tuesday, 45 minutes of a game on Thursday and the last 20 minutes there, so I've not really been up to speed.
"But I'll take it.
"It was a terrible cross to be perfectly honest, it was right behind me.
"I just tried to adjust; I shut my eyes and hit it and landed on my back. I tried to look up and as soon as I did it was in the net.
"I'm just glad we got the win because as soon as you get a man sent off, you are chasing the game a wee bit. Moments like that have given us the win and it could be important towards the end of the season."
Gaffer Stevie Aitken said: "Daryl's only been back training for two weeks. He's missed a lot of training, so it's great for him.
"Strikers thrive on goals and it's great for Craig Malcolm as well.
"Chris Erskine will get his goals, Kyle Wilkie came on and showed his experience as well and we've got plenty of attacking options.
"We just need to keep working and tidy up on a few aspects."
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