Boss Roy Keane has challenged his players to win themselves a place in his first team for the opening game of the season against Middlesbrough when the Blues face Premier League West Ham and a Spurs XI next week. Before then, Town play friendlies against Leiston and Bury Town, which Keane says will be more about fitness.

The Town manager told the club site: "Middlesbrough away is the real business for us, but we'll be looking to go into that game with decent performances against West Ham and Tottenham.

"The games we have had in pre-season so far, and it will be the same this week, are about the fitness levels and getting time on the pitch for the players.

"We're getting closer to the start of the season now though, and there will be players looking to perform well against West Ham and Spurs and book their place in the team for the start of the season.

"They are the two important games for us and we'll be looking for a bit more from the matches than just the fitness side."

Town will play two different sides in Tuesday’s game at Leiston and Wednesday’s match at Bury Town (both 7.45pm), before the West Ham fixture at Portman Road on Saturday (3pm) and the friendly against a Tottenham XI - perhaps including former loanee Giovani Dos Santos - three days later (7.45pm).

Photo: Action Images

suffolksam added 07:45 - Jul 27 is he challenging them to win a spot cause he is'nt competant enough to pick the team himself ?
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suffolksam added 07:48 - Jul 27 i had 4-4-2 lepercorns on me toes once jeez they were painful had to go across the irish sea to sweden to get them removed
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Monkey_Blue added 16:44 - Jul 27 This is rubbish...Keane said that he would concentrate on getting a settled side this preseason. What he's saying now is that there will still be places up for grabs right up for the boro game depending on how players train, So we will not have a settled side, like we didn't last season...some players are great in training, some are poor, its how they play on a saturday that counts. He's been here long enough to know mainly what his best side is.... I'm not suggesting players should slack in training, but its also not good to my mind to have such intense training leading up to a game...its draining physically and mentally...but keane is intense 24/7 so probably assumes thats how it should be. Cloughie said that players should be relaxed before a game and that nobody can do anything to the best of their abilities if they are not relaxed including sex!!!

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