Elgin City midfielder Mark Nicolson says the Black and Whites are in top condition ahead of today’s League 2 opening match against Arbroath.
City begin their league campaign this afternoon, having already beaten Stirling Albion 3-2 in the first round of the Petrofac Cup, before losing 5-0 against Championship side Morton to exit the League Cup last weekend.
Elgin’s squad has come through its first pre-season under manager Jim Weir, who took over from Barry Wilson last November.
Nicolson feels as fit as ever before and is aiming to help City hit the ground running at Gayfield this afternoon.
The 27-year-old said: “There’s been a lot of running involved in pre-season. A lot of people will realise we are a lot fitter this season.
“We’ve shown up well in the games we’ve played against full-time teams. We lost 5-0 against Morton last weekend but in the first half we more than matched them. We were probably the better team. In the second half we fell apart a wee bit but, hopefully, we can learn from the mistakes we made.
“We performed really well against Ross County in pre-season when we lost 5-3.
“We need to be in good shape playing against a team like Arbroath, who I think will be one of the better sides in the league this season. Hopefully, we can get off to a good start.
“We had a bit of a strange game the last time we were there in February when we were 3-0 up but the game finished 3-3. We don’t want a repeat of that.
“It’s always good to start the league campaign and I’m sure all the boys are looking forward to it.
“It’s a difficult game to start with but the guys are confident of going down there and getting a result.”
City manager Weir hopes his side can carry the form they showed after the turn of the year into the new campaign.
Weir said: “The first month last season was reasonable, with the team picking up seven points, but after that they went on a bit of a slump when key players were missing.
“When we took over in November I was delighted with the reaction. Two or three months down the line, we had a realistic opportunity finish in that fourth place.
“Injuries to a small squad affected us but we were disappointed we didn’t make it.
“We can compete with most teams in the league on our day, so we are hoping to get off to a reasonable start and get through the first quarter. We will analyse things after that.”