NEW Preston Lodge head coach Andrew Clark is looking forward to his first season in charge at the Pennypit.

Clark took over the mantle of head coach from Mark Steedman, after previously working as the now former head coach's assistant.

The pair guided Preston Lodge to promotion from National Division 3 in 2014/15, and they consolidated their place in the third tier with some excellent displays.

Their memorable wins included a drubbing of West of Scotland in the BT Cup, a rare win over Kirkcaldy at Beveridge Park and a 52-19 success over Hillhead Jordanhill in Steedman's final home match.

New boss Clark, a former development officer with the Pennypit club, is hopeful that he can pick up where Steedman left off when the season starts next month.

He told Courier Sport: "I'm definitely looking forward to the challenge next season.

"Mark [Steedman] has left the 1st team in a good state and I'm sure we can build on this.

"We've managed to put together what I believe to be a strong coaching team with Jason Riley and Gordon Lyon, as well as John Stewart and Jonathan Brash.

"I believe that having a good team cohesion at this level can make a massive difference to the outcome of matches and as I know the majority of the players well I feel this can only help us achieve our goals for the season."

Clark, who works as a lecturer at Edinburgh College, was delighted to see a few new faces join the squad for pre-season training this month.

He added: "We've added a number of players this season, including Robbie Griffin and Dave Lyall, both from Napier University, and Scott McColl from Stewart's Melville.

"What's encouraging for me is the players we recruited last season want to stay on with us, which mean we've kept Antoin Penrose, Allan Whittingham and Colin Arthur."

The new head coach is, though, aware of the challenges of the season ahead.

He said: "The league is going to be a challenging one with Peebles and Kelso coming down, and West [of Scotland] and GHK coming up, but our players will certainly do everything they can to compete with every team in the league."