Wishaw boss David Dunn admits his side will be depleted for their opening West of Scotland League Second Division away to St Anthony’s this weekend.
But he is confident his squad can still be up there challenging this season when they are at full strength.
The Beltane Park boss took the reins midway through last season as the club finished fifth in Conference B.
Now league reconstruction has taken place, Wishy find themselves in a division containing the likes of Maybole, Greenock and Ashfield and while Dunn firmly believes his side can be in amongst it, they will go into their first fixture low on numbers with players absent and Reis Webster ruled out long-term through injury.
He said: “We’ve obviously got Reis Webster out injured and we’ve got a few others away so we are looking at maybe 15 players for Saturday.
“We are actively looking to get players in and I’ve spoken to a lot of folk but we are limited in terms of who we can bring in.
“The hope for this season though is to continue on from where we were last year.
“We were on a bit of a run in the league. We only lost one out of the last 10 games I think and I aspire to be challenging up the top end of the table.
“We want to finish as high up the table as we possibly can.
“If we get the squad - and this is the difficult part - every week, because I know there’s a few away on the first day of the season, then I think we have a team that is capable of challenging.
“We will get injuries. You can’t go through a whole season without picking up this stuff so that’s something we need to be on the ball about.”
Wishaw geared up for their opener with an impressive 3-1 win at Beith, where Kieran Campbell netted a hat-trick.
And Dunn, who added former Kilmarnock defender Mark Canning to his coaching staff for this season, added: “I’m still delighted with the way things are going.
“The boys are giving their all. The fitness levels are great and we’ll just keep pushing to be 100 per cent ready for St Anthony’s.
“We’ve all played the game for years but we are a young management team.
“We all want to succeed and we are really enjoying it, there’s a good feeling about the club.”
Kick-off at McKenna Park on Saturday is 2pm. The club play their first home match of the season on August 6 when they entertain Renfrew.
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