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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Stuart Gillespie

Dalbeattie Star to begin new Lowland League season at home to Edinburgh University

Dalbeattie Star will kick off the new Lowland League season at home.

They’ll begin the new campaign by welcoming Edinburgh University to Islecroft on Saturday, July 23.

A week later they head to Stirling University before hosting Caledonian Braves n Wednesday, August 3.

That will be followed by another home game against Cumbernauld Colts.

Boss Jordan Williamson said: “To have three of the first four games at home is massive for us.

“I hope there is going to be a lot of interest to see the squad we’ve put together.

“You don’t want to put too much pressure on the players at the moment as we have a lot of work to do in pre-season but these are games that give us opportunities to be picking up points to get us off to a very good start.

“We saw that last season with Dalbeattie – they got off to a good start and the pressure that comes with being at the bottom was taken away from the players and they got to enjoy their football, meaning they had one of their best finishing positions.”

Star are now in pre-season training with their first friendly against St Cuthbert Wanderers on Wednesday.

They host Killingworth on July 9 before facing Creetown for a game that, like the Saints clash, is part of the Jim Hyslop Memorial trophy.

New signings are set to be announced in the coming days, with Steven Degnan agreeing to stay on for another season.

And Williamson believes his experience could be key with a number of the new signings not having played in the Lowland League before.

He said: “I’m glad they have him to learn off. He knows how the league runs and he’ll have a couple of things he’ll have picked up with where he’s been. He’s a big character and he’ll be a big help.

“I’ve had a lot of late nights driving up and down to Glasgow trying to build a squad and I’m happy with what we’ve got.

“There was a little bit of rustiness in pre-season as they’ve been off for a few weeks but in terms of fitness levels and how you’d like a pre-season session to go it’s been nothing like it.

“We knew that would be the case as the boys haven’t had that long off and had an extended season.

“We’re starting to get the ball rolling and are looking forward to the next few weeks coming up.”

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