Harbord Seasiders United kick off their first season in the MWFA Premier League since 2008 against Wakehurst and their coach Paul Mulligan is under no illusions that 2020 will be a challenging campaign for the newly promoted outfit.
Mulligan has retained the core of his youthful squad that earned the clubs first taste of Premier League football in 12 years by finishing second in last seasons AL/1s competition.
Mulligan will take the opposite technical area to a familiar face in new Wakehurst coach Frank Chiarella.
The two know each other well as tough opponents in the MWFA Premier League during the late 1990s.
Mulligan is aware Chiarella has inherited a squad that are ready to give HSU a harsh welcome to the competition.
Im expecting a typical Wakehurst team who are hard-working and fit; itll be tough, simple as that, he said.
Training has been a matter of business as usual so well go out there and see how we go thats all we can do.
Its obviously going to be a tough year, but well just give it our best shot.
We havent had any major players come in and have lost a couple of our stronger players from last season.
I know my team are capable of being competitive in every game and as you know footballs a funny old game.
If teams underestimate us, Im sure we can pull off a few shocks.
The first round of the newly expanded 12-team Premier League competition will see all fixtures unfold at Cromer Park.
Cromer 2 will see the days action kick off at 11am between the two other recently promoted outfits Belrose Terry-Hills Raiders and Manly Vale FC, before Wakehurst and Harbord take to the pitch at 3pm.
Over on Cromer 4, Pittwater RSL and St Augustines meet at 3pm before Collaroy Cromer Strikers and last years grand finalists Seaforth round out the days action at 7pm.
Two fixtures have been postponed due to FFA Cup commitments: Mosman versus Narrabeen and the semi-final rematch between Curl Curl and Brookvale have currently been rescheduled to take place on Tuesday 14th April.
