Greg Gallagher is hoping Lugar Boswell can hit the ground running in the West of Scotland League after the 'strangest pre-season ever'.
The Boswell boss reckons he's still to find a settled side after a summer disrupted by Covid and holiday issues.
The Conference A outfit were besieged with selection issues, with Gallagher forced to bring in ringers at one point just to field a team.
He's hoping those problems are largely behind him now ahead of Saturday's big kick-off away to Saltcoats Vics.
Gallagher said: "The best thing I can say about our pre-season is it helped with fitness and getting minutes in the legs.
"We just couldn't get a settled team two games on the trot.
"It's been the strangest pre-season ever. With the league starting earlier we had a lot of boys missing with holidays and stag-dos.
"Covid played a big part too, with lots of our players having to self-isolate, including myself.
"We could only muster 12 players for a game against Beith and even then I had to call in a couple of ringers.
"The majority of boys will be available on Saturday thankfully but in terms of preparation we're not quite where I'd like us to be.
"The main thing for us is that we apply ourselves and try to hit the ground running."
Gallagher is happy with the squad at his disposal which features ex-Celtic kid Craig Connell and former Queen's Park defender Adam Lowe.
But he's reluctant to set any targets for the campaign ahead.
He added: "We've a lot of youth in there and we've tried to blend that with a bit of experience.
"We've no set targets but we won't fear anyone in the league."
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