Only nine weeks after securing their Premier League status in the very last match of the 2009 campaign, Bute's senior team will play their first pre-season friendly of 2010 this Saturday, when Kilmory are the visitors to the Meadows.

The Lochgilphead side finished third in South Division One last season, and have already been drawn to play Bute in Rothesay in the first round of the Artemis Macaulay Cup, to be played on May 8.

There's also the possibility of a further clash between the teams in the quarter-finals of the Glasgow Celtic Society Cup, should the mid-Argyll side get the better of Ballachulish in the first round - so Saturday's match will provide a chance for both coaches to size up the opposition, as well as giving an opportunity to blow away the close-season cobwebs.

The game gets under way at 2pm at the Meadows.

Bute's second team, meanwhile, make the short journey north to play South Division Two rivals Strachur in another pre-season friendly, this time with a 1.30pm throw-up.

The new season's competitive fixtures begin on Saturday, March 6, when Bute's first team open their Premier League campaign away to Glasgow Mid Argyll; the Bute second team are at home to Col-Glen in South Division Two on the same day.