Elgin City chairman Graham Tatters believes his side can head into the 2021-22 campaign with confidence.
Gavin Price’s men finished third in last term with the campaign shortened to 27 games due to the coronavirus pandemic.
They were beaten in the League One play-offs with a 3-2 defeat on aggregate against Edinburgh City.
The Black and Whites begin the new term on July 31 with a home game against Stranraer, who finished fourth and level on points with Elgin.
Tatters, however, believes the push for promotion will be more difficult this time around.
He said: “I think it is going to be a tougher league this season.
“We have got Kelty Hearts coming up from the Lowland League and I think everyone is expecting them to be very strong given the investment they are making.
“I think Edinburgh City are also going to be very strong. They released eight or nine players and they wouldn’t have cleared them out if they didn’t have players coming in.
“They will be looking to go up. They don’t want to hang about.
“We were disappointed with the way the season ended but there were a lot of positives.
“We lost Andy McDonald just before Christmas and we have just lost Stephen Bronsky who has joined Edinburgh City.
“It is difficult because we are going to have to rejig the back four again.
“That was the problem when we lost some games just before the play-offs and we had to change the back four.
“We eventually found a solution.
LEAGUE FIXTURES 2021-22
Here are our Cinch League 2 Fixtures for the upcoming season ⚽️
What are your predictions ?
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— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) June 15, 2021
“We are probably looking for a centre-half unless we are going to play Matthew Cooper there but the manager has got that in hand.
“Apart from that we are looking forward to the new season.
“The way we lost the play-off game was disappointing but we had a good season, there is no doubt about it.
“It was really sad to lose out in the play-offs on a goal scored in the 88th minute but that can happen in football.”
After starting with a home game against Stranraer, Elgin head to Cowdenbeath to take on the Blue Brazil on August 7 before hosting Albion Rovers a week later.
They are not due to face League Two new boys Kelty Hearts until September 11, although the sides are already scheduled to meet in the group stages of the League Cup in July.
Tatters added: “It is nice to be playing at home on the first day of the season but at the end of the day it makes no real difference what way the fixtures come as you have to play everybody four times anyway.
“We just get on with it.
“The fixtures everyone looks out for are the ones around Christmas and New Year.
“We’re away on Boxing Day (at Stirling Albion) and at home (against Forfar Athletic) on January 2 and we will take that as it comes.”
