Stirling Albion make the short journey to Ochilview to play Stenhousemuir in their League 2 opener on Saturday.
The Binos go into the local derby on the back of an excellent campaign in the Premier Sports Cup when they finished runners-up to Hearts, beating Cove Rangers and Peterhead and drawing with Inverness CT.
Albion spent most of last season in the top four, only to miss out on the play-offs at the end of 2020/21, finishing two points behind Edinburgh City, Elgin City and Stranraer.
SPFL newcomers Kelty Hearts are the bookies’ favourites for the title this time round but Stirling are also fancied to do well and manager Kevin Rutkiewicz has brought in eight new players, although losing last season’s top scorer Andy Ryan to Hamilton Accies was a blow.
Ray Grant (Alloa Athletic), Martin McNiff (Clyde), Nathan Flanagan (Annan Athletic), Adam Cummins (Stranraer), Dale Carrick (Airdrieonians), Marc Laird (Edinburgh City) and Rabin Omar (Morton) all put pen to paper and ex-Queen’s Park and Stenhousemuir left-back Ciaran Summers last week became the latest new recruit following a spell in Holland.
Their opening day opponents Stenhousemuir have brought in no fewer than 20 new players since former BSC Glasgow boss Stephen Swift took over from Davie Irons at the end of last season.
Rutkiewicz, who took over in October 2018 following the departure of Dave Mackay, is hoping to guide the club into League 1, where they last played in 2014/15.
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He said: “I genuinely believe we have made progress each season.
"It was obviously disappointing to miss out on the play-offs last year having been in the top four almost since the start but we had one of the best defensive records in the division and created plenty of chances.
“We know we need to score more goals and do better at home but our away form has been excellent and we want to maintain that. It’s a tough start with a derby against a Stenhousemuir team who I think will be strong under Stephen Swift then Kelty in our second game.
“We are really looking forward to getting started. We feel we are in a good place and we couldn’t have asked for much more from the group stage of the Premier Sports Cup.
“League 2 presents different challenges but I’m delighted with the players we have brought in and we have managed to keep the core from last season. We hadn’t expected to lose Andy Ryan but that’s football and I believe we have good attacking options - we showed in the cup games that we have threats throughout the team.”
