Gartcairn's final pre-season clash comes at a cost ahead of Whitletts opener
Gartcairn co-boss Darren Barr was happy to end pre-season on a winning note but admits it came at a cost ahead of Saturday's West of Scotland First Division opener at Whitletts Victoria.
The Airdrie-based outfit ran out 2-1 winners away to East of Scotland Premier champions Musselburgh Athletic at the weekend, with Dom Morgan and Stefan McCluskey on target.
But Barr's side finished the game with 10 men after left-back Jordan Allan was shown a straight red card, while Kyle Hutton is facing a fitness test after picking up a knock.
Barr said: 'The boys put in a really good performance on the eve of the season starting, so it gives them a bit of belief because Musselburgh are a good team and they did really well last year, winning their league. We had a really good 60-65 minutes.
'There's a few people that were still on holiday and some injuries to contend with. Kyle Hutton took a sore one so we will need to see how he is as the week progresses and we had a man sent off as well, so those two things put a bit of a dampener on it a bit.'
Gartcairn are among the favourites for the title having been relegated from the top flight last season, but Barr is sure his players can handle that expectation.
He added: 'Looking at the squad, we are in decent place and we are still building. Pre-season is all about getting minutes in the legs and get the partnerships going, working cohesively, so Saturday was a good step towards that.
'Pressure of being one of the favourites is fine. You've obviously got Darvel in there and a few others, so I think it is going to be a really strong league.
'Some people might have us as favourites but there are plenty of other strong sides in there.
'We'd love a winning start but I'd rather have a strong finish to the season, that is the most important thing.
'The boys know the pressure on them, but all we'll do is take it one game at a time and focus on the way we want to play.
'With the quality in the squad we know we can compete.'
On the Whitletts clash, he added: 'I'm expecting a really tough match. We've watched Whitletts a couple of times and they will give us a really hard first game.
'It is about how we approach it and we will prepare them as best we can. Hopefully we can get off to a positive start.'
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