RUAIDHRI Higgins says Coleraine are excited to get their Premiership campaign up and running – but has called for an element of realism for his new-look squad…

The Bannsiders welcome Larne to The Showgrounds this afternoon in the opening weekend of the new season.

Higgins has added some exciting players to his ranks over the summer, and whilst he wants his team to be an instant smash-hit, he knows it may take a little bit of time for everything to come to fruition.

“We’re really, really excited,” Higgins said.

“We’ve enjoyed pre-season; the players have been receptive, staff and everyone around the club.

“But it’s pre-season you don’t get any points for it.

“In terms of expectation, we want to be really, really competitive.

“We feel on our day we’ll be capable of beating anybody but there’s also an element of realism.

“Things don’t just happen overnight. We want it to, and to happen very quickly, but when you have so many new staff, players and everything else, there will be bumps in the road and we have to prepare for that.”

Larne come into today’s clash after five European games so far this summer.

Nathan Rooney’s men knocked-out both FK Auda and FC Prishtina in Conference League qualifying via spot-kicks, setting-up a third round clash against Portuguese side Santa Clara.

Higgins said of his opponents: “It’s a brilliant fixture.

“They’ve done great, Larne have been brilliant in Europe and they’ve been very strong now for a couple of years now.

“They’ve had five, highly competitive games to get ready for this one.

“We are under no illusions it’s going to be a really tough one…but we know that we want to come here and win in front of our home crowd.

“We absolutely respect the opposition but we will also back ourselves as well.”

Supporters can tickets for today’s fixture HERE.