IMPROVING Cowdenbeath's league fortunes is Gary Locke's number one priority as he prepares his side for the resumption of competitive football.

The Betfred Cup group stage kicks off a week on Saturday July 15 and the Blues, drawn in Group C, will open their campaign at home to Highland League champions Buckie Thistle.

Games come thick and fast with a home game against Premiership Dundee (July 26) sandwiched between trips to Dundee United (July 23) and Locke's former club Raith Rovers (July 29) and, while the Blues boss wants to do well in the tournament, he'll be using the games as preparation for their League Two opener.

Cowden, who returned to pre-season training last Tuesday, host Queen of the South on Saturday in a pre-season fixture and Locke commented: "I'm glad that the season is just around the corner, even though last season only finished around four weeks ago! Things are a lot different now as you get involved in games again pretty quickly.

"We've got Hearts in a closed-door game and a friendly with Queen of the South and we're trying to get one other, but I'll use the League Cup as friendlies. If you play too many games then you end up picking injuries.

"We don't want to end up in the same position in the league as we did last season so the priority has to be the league. Of course we want to do well in the cup - although it's going to be tough - but we have to do better in the league."

He added: "They will be great tests for us. Buckie Thistle were unfortunate against East Kilbride, and we saw how tough a game that was, so that won't be easy and Dundee are obviously in the Premiership. Dundee United and even Raith Rovers will be decent opposition but we're looking forward to it."