DUNFERMLINE Athletic return to pre season training this week with boss James McPake looking to get his squad up to speed before kicking off the new season.

Players will return tomorrow (Friday) after their summer break with their first friendly fixture scheduled for a week later at East Fife.

They will then travel to Cove Rangers on July 2 before hosting St Mirren and Dundee on July 6 and 10 respectively before starting their Premier Sports Cup campaign.

McPake is keen to get to work with his squad to ensure his side are well prepared for the season ahead.

"First and foremost, we will get the players back in on Friday and get them all fit," he said. "A few have missed a lot of football last season.

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"Key players like Kyle Benedictus, Kane Ritchie-Hosler, Matty Todd, they missed a big chunk of last season so we will get them back and hopefully get a good pre-season under their belts."

The Pars manager admitted that playing against tough German visitors St Pauli at an early stage last pre-season did not help with their preparations and he is hoping for a different experience this year.

"No disrespect to East Fife but they are no St Pauli," he said. "We have shifted it about a bit, back to what we normally do. We will get them ready to go and that is what I am thinking about.

"Hopefully we get a bit of luck in terms of injuries. It is about getting them in and ready to go into the Premier Sports Cup. We have not managed to get through a group stage in our time at Dunfermline – we did it at Dundee.

"The first ambition is to do all we can and get out of that group and move on in that cup."

The Premier Sports Cup will see Dunfermline play Livingston, Cove Rangers, The Spartans and Forfar Athletic in July.

On the opening weekend, Saturday July 13, the Pars will make the trip to the capital to face League Two Spartans at Ainslie Park.

Three days later, they welcome another fourth tier outfit, Forfar, to KDM Group East End Park, before heading for Championship rivals Livi, relegated from the top flight, on Saturday July 20.

They will then round off their fixtures at home to League One Cove on July 27.