Playing in the SPL is a great incentive to overcome fitness problems and Ryan Baldacchino can't wait for the first whistle of season to blow in August.

Raring to get back in action
Gretna players are looking forward to playing in the SPL and none more so than midfielder Ryan Baldacchino. His recent playing career has been blighted by a medial knee ligament injury and he hopes these problems are behind him. Baldacchino made that latest of comebacks in the final two games of last season when Gretna clinched promotion with the last kick of the First Division season. He came off the bench to help his club achieve a 3-2 win over Ross County in Dingwall. Baldacchino is now looking forward to a long period of being injury-free and went on: "I was out for maybe 15 months on and off. I've made various comebacks but now I'm 100% and it's nice to come back at the start of a new season totally fit. I was devastated to be missing out on the games, especially the Scottish Cup final. But, last season, I always had it in the back of my mind that we would get up to the Premier League. I just had to make sure I was fit for that. I would have said the right time to come back would have been with 10 games to go, when we were going for promotion and I'm sure the manager would have said that as well. But it's nice to be fully fit now and looking forward to the new season."

Gretna welcome Falkirk to their temporary home ground of Fir Park on the opening day of the season. Baldacchino cannot wait for the first whistle to arrive and the Leicester-born player is reluctant to settle for simply surviving in their first season in the SPL. He said: "We couldn't have asked for a better game to start off with next season. I played against Falkirk in the Challenge Cup a couple of seasons back and they had some good players. But we were in the Second Division at the time and the difference in class showed. We have come on a lot as a club since then and playing against them will be a brilliant guide for us. But it's quite negative to aim for 11th place before the season starts. We will be looking at each game and the overall position will look after itself."

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