Dunfermline winger Willie Gibson had admitted he knows it will be difficult to regain his place for the Pars after missing all the pre-season games.
The 25-year-old has not featured in any matches this season due to an achilles injury, but is now training with the first team and is keen to get back in action.
Gibson is building his fitness up and has been working with the Pars physiotherapist but realises that he faces stiff competition from 17-year-old Paul Willis who has performed well as his replacement.
“I basically did five days running last week and was back to training with the squad yesterday,” he said. “So hopefully I will get a touch of the ball this week and get sharper.
“It’s a case of getting match fit but to do that you need games and the unfortunate thing for myself is that the pre-season games are now finished. The only way I’m going to get games is on a Saturday or in cup matches.
“So basically I need to prepare myself in training and then get back in the team as young Paul Willis has been doing exceptionally well. I have to get sharper and reach the stage of being match fit.”
And whilst Gibson said he can’t wait to get back into the Pars side, he acknowledged the form of Willis.
“Full credit to Paul, he’s come in and done well,” he added. “He played in the friendlies and did well in the Co-operative cup game against Arbroath. He capped it off by scoring in that game, which I thought he thoroughly deserved.
“So I’m not kidding myself on, I’ve got a lot to do to get back in the team.”
And Gibson realises the importance of Saturday’s league opener away to Falkirk.’Massive game'”This is a massive game,” he said. “It’s one of those games that you look forward to as it’s a derby and Falkirk have just been relegated from the SPL. Obviously they’ll be looking to bounce straight back up but a few teams have found that difficult.
“However, Inverness Caley did it last season so that proves it can be done, but there are also two to three teams who will feel it could be their year. We always want to win games and it makes it more exciting to beat the likes of Falkirk in what will be a very important game we want to get off to a good start.
“We’ve been labelled as one of the promotion favourites for a few seasons so it’s important not to put too much pressure on ourselves and go out and do a job.”
Pars manager Jim McIntyre said he knows what an important player Gibson is to the club but feels he is lacking match fitness at the moment.
“Willie is back in training but he’s not played any games and is well short of match fitness,” he said.
And he feels that preparations for the league opener at Falkirk have been good.
“Both the Arbroath cup games were tough but we came through them well,” he added.
“Obviously there are things where we have learnt to improve but that’s the same every week when you think you could have done better.
“We’re looking forward to the Falkirk game and I would imagine it will be a sell-out. It will be a great game to play in.”
McIntyre declined to comment on speculation linking both Hibs and Hearts with interest in Gibson and Joe Cardle.