Andy will take the dousing

Ice cold Austrian rivers cannot be any worse than East End ice baths in mid winter claims Dowser

Andy Dowie has been warned of the ice cold river in Obertraun, Austria where the players cool down after training but doesn't believe it can be any more torturous than the ice baths his Dunfermline teammates are subjected to in the middle of December. After the bus trip from Salzburg on Sunday evening training will get underway the following morning but for the 28 year old this is a new experience:-

"Apart from being away pre season to Cyprus with Partick Thistle I have never been away pre season so Austria will be good and we are looking forward to playing against two top sides. That is just what we need in the build up to the league starting. Every game is going to be difficult so two hard games in Austria and the game against Huddersfield when we come back will hopefully hold us in good stead.

"Two days hard training and two games. We have done all our running and all our fitness work so I imagine it will be all ball work and training geared to going into games."

All this comes as a great relief after the first two weeks of pre season, wakening up in the morning to discover the pains of pre season training is not the best feeling in the world but he claims:-

"The toughest part of it is all over; it's always the same - you just need to get through and try not to miss a day. It is an experienced squad and we have all done a number of pre seasons before. Now the ball is out the boys are buzzing again."

Andy Dowie has had his share of SFL football because even though he got the scent of the big time while in the Rangers youth system his route to the SPL has included lower division football at Brechin City, Stranraer, Partick Thistle and Ross County.

"I was 18 when I last played in the SPL; it was long time ago and it was against Dunfermline at East End. It was just for ten minutes but it's a bit of a co-incidence. I was on the bench a few times when I was a young boy at Rangers and played in friendlies; ten minutes was all I got in the SPL so hopefully I will get longer than that this season!"

May 2002 was when Andy played in the SPL so the road back to the top flight has been a long and weary one:-

"I have played in the First Division for six years, plus one in the Second Division with Ross County and a few of the young guys are in the same boat, so we are really looking forward to it. Everybody is just battling away now to try and get into the side and hopefully deserve to be playing in the top Division."

In the centre of the defence there are four main contenders - Alex Keddie, Kevin Rutkiewicz, John Potter and Andy Dowie. Andy who has 12 Scottish U21 caps prefers to play in that role but would take any position to get a start:-

"You try your best wherever you play. I played midfield when I was younger and I'm more familiar playing midfield than playing right back. I have only played right back a handful of times and I find it a bit tougher because I am not used to it. It is a difficult position to play if you have no experience of playing there. But to get a place in the team you have to be happy because it is a strong squad and everybody wants to play."