SO the Phoney War is over and the real bread butter stuff begins this Saturday when Cowdenbeath open their Ladbrokes League 2 campaign at Broadwood Stadium against Clyde.

The Bully Wee were one of the few teams that the Blue Brazil beat last season but manager Gary Bollan wants to leave last term's problems behind as he bids to guide Cowden on a better path in the 2018-2019 season.

Clyde, under former Blues' boss Danny Lennon, finished last term well and only narrowly missed out on the promotion play-offs and they will again have the dangerous David Goodwillie in their attack.

But Mr Bollan has totally rebuilt his squad and is looking to make a good start to the campaign at Broadwood after a decent Betfred Cup run of two wins and two losses.

He said this week: "The Betfred ended with a sore one with the heavy loss at Hearts but over the piece it was a good campaign and held plenty of plus points.

"But now it is down to the bread and butter and we have to look to make a good start against Clyde then follow it up with positive results in our back to back home games to follow against Annan Athletic and Berwick Rangers.

"Our aim is to get up the table this season but we can only do that by winning games and we want to start doing that regularly."

The manager is happy with the way his new recruits have fitted in and he will be looking to the likes of Jordyn Sheerin, David Cox, Kris Renton and Martin Scott to produce the goals that can get the wins he wants.

He added: "Clyde will be difficult opponents for they have a lot of good attacking players but our defensive work as a team was excellent in the Betfred Cup and we have to keep that level up on Saturday."

Centre-half Bryan Gilfillan sustained a rib injury in the pre-season programme but is now fit and will contest the central defensive berths with Jamie Pyper and David Marsh.

For Saturday it is likely the midfield unit of Blair Malcolm, Kyle Miller and Brad Smith will get the nod with Sheerin and Cox spearheading the goal search.