Tranent boss Calum Elliot assesses squad strength and season prospects after defeat by East Kilbride

New signing Brandon Archibald, Brad Donaldson, Darren McCormack, Ciaran McKenzie and captain Shaun Rutherford were all unavailable for their opening-day 3-2 defeat at home to Lowland League favourites East Kilbride though injury, but the Belters boss hopes they will be in contention soon.

He said: “We are under no illusions how difficult the season is going to be, but now we will hopefully have boys coming back. We will do well this season.

“It obviously hurts because we are not used to losing games of football as a team, we need to make sure that we do improve and get better.

Tranent boss Calum Elliot is happy with his squad

“A lot of the boys who were on the bench have missed a lot of pre-season, but hopefully in a week to ten days time they will be able to contribute.

“If the right player becomes available we will strengthen but it's going to be very difficult to find better quality than we already have.”

Elliot insists his side have nothing to fear in their inaugural Lowland League campaign if title favourites East Kilbride are the best side they will come up against.

It was a rare home defeat for the Belters in the season curtain raiser ay Foresters Park as East Kilbride came back from a goal down to take all three point in a second-half thriller – after a goalless opening period – to spoil their East of Scotland title flag-day.

Jame Docherty had given Tranent the lead with an exquisite free-kick, but two-times league winners Kilby hit back with three goals in succession, all from corner kicks, before Craig Barr pulled one back late on.

The visitors had captain Gary Miller sent-off for violent conduct after a coming together with Tranent defender Callum Donaldson, but Kevin Rutkiewicz's side kept their lead.

“We are obviously disappointed to lose, especially conceding the goals that we lost,” added Elliot.

“We need to make sure that we don't make those mistakes again and we get better, we need to make sure come Wednesday night [away to Cumbernauld Colts] that we are in a far better place to go and win a game of football.

“I don't think we conceded two goals from a corner last season and then we go and concede three in one game, it's not ideal. It's something that we need to look at to make sure we improve on.

“They started the game better but I think once we got our foot on the ball we started to play, they were more direct than what I thought they would be. Between both boxes I thought we were the better side, we just lacked a bit of a quality at times when we got into the right areas. When we had good opportunities we didn't punish them as much as we should have.

“It's a learning curve for us but we've got nothing to be afraid of this season if that's as good as it's going to be, we just need to make sure that we dust ourselves down and go again on Wednesday."