Elgin City defender Darryl McHardy is hoping his side can start the 2022-23 campaign strongly after a dismal season last term.
The Black and Whites kick off their cinch League 2 season on July 30 at home to East Fife, who come down to the division having been relegated from League 1.
Elgin will be looking to improve upon last season, where they finished second-bottom with only 37 points. It was their worst finish in the league since the 2013-14 season.
McHardy believes that playing their first game of the new campaign at Borough Briggs is the best chance to get fans back on side after a “terrible” season.
He said: “It’s always important to win the first home game in front of the fans.
“It’s good as well to get a team that’s come down to the league, if we can get a good result against them it puts us in a good place for the next games.
“Last season was absolutely terrible – all the boys knew that. It’s important that we get the fans back on our side and get our backers to support us from the beginning.
“The last thing you want to do is get a bad result the first time you’ve played in front of the fans for a few months and send them off in a bad mood.
“If we can get them on side after the first game, it’s always a good way to kickstart the season.”
McHardy says that starting the season off well is also important for the player’s mindset, which can affect performances on the pitch.
He added: “It’s a mental thing, you want to start well so you’re mentally prepared.
“If we get off to a bad start – especially after the end of last season – it’s not going to be good for the boys’ minds.
“It’s important that we get the three points in our opening games and kick on from there.”
Promotion always the aim
McHardy hopes that Elgin can right last season’s wrongs, and insists that they will be looking to compete at the top-end of the table next term.
He says that promotion is “always” the aim for the Black and Whites, who will play their 10th consecutive season in SPFL’s fourth-tier in 2022-23.
McHardy said: “Our main target is to get up through the play-offs. Every year we have to aim to be promoted, it’s been a long time in this league.
“It is bad from our point of view that we’ve not been promoted. As a club, we absolutely have to go for it next season.”
One team that McHardy thinks could challenge Elgin in and about the top end of the table is SPFL new boys Bonnyrigg Rose, who they play on the final day of the season.
Bonnyrigg won promotion to the division through the Lowland League and SPFL pyramid play-offs, the same route as last season’s League 2 champions, Kelty Hearts.
McHardy said: “We’ve heard a lot of good things about Bonnyrigg Rose. A lot of the teams in the Lowland and Highland League are just as good as the teams in our league.
“We’ll be expecting some tough games against them. We’ve been in the league a long time so hopefully we can use that experience to our advantage and show our class.”
