Elgin City manager Gavin Price has welcomed the imminent return of lower league football.
All football below the Championship has been suspended since January 11, but the SFA received permission from the Scottish Government yesterday for teams to resume football activity immediately.
Teams will be required to carry out weekly PCR testing with the date League 2 fixtures will recommence yet to be confirmed.
Elgin are sitting in second place in League 2 with 18 points from their opening nine games.
Price is relishing getting back to playing games and believes his players won’t take too long to get back up to speed.
He said: “It is great news.
“There has been a lot of uncertainty about whether we would get started or not.
“I’m sure trying to keep the players motivated has been a challenge for every club.
“The good thing about Elgin is we are quite used to having to balance some players training remotely as we have guys based across the country.
“They have kept going with their fitness work that we monitor.
“I can see that they are working hard.
“We did purposely up it over the last couple of weeks in the hope that we would be coming back.
“When we are able to get training sessions going, we have to make the most of it.
“We want to concentrate on the ball as soon as we can.
“Hopefully we will be back playing games soon.
“For sporting integrity, I think it is vital that the season comes to a conclusion.
“It didn’t last season, which was really frustrating for us as well as many other teams.
“We would hate to see that happen again.”
‘I want to play friendlies as soon as I can’
Price is already planning friendlies to ensure his players can get their sharpness back as quickly as possible.
He said: “When you look at how long the players have been off, it is effectively a close season.
“They have been keeping up with their fitness, so I’m hopeful I won’t need to overly push the fitness side of training.
“If I get the opportunity I want to play friendlies as soon as I can.
“I’d like to play one or two friendly games within 10 days or so of coming back.
“I have got a game earmarked against Forfar already.
“We want to be as well prepared as we can for the fixtures starting.
“It does take a few games to get into your match rhythm.
“We noticed that in October. It took us four or five games to get into our stride.
“The players have all bought into what is expected at the club.
“Hopefully that will see us in the right direction.”
Elgin are also due to take on Championship side Ayr United in the second round of the Scottish Cup.
The competition has also been given the green light to resume by the authorities, providing participating teams comply with PCR testing requirements.
He added: “We always want to test ourselves against teams from a higher league.
“We have always enjoyed games like that over the last couple of seasons.
“Whenever games like that come about it is a free hit, but hopefully we can get through to the next round.”
