Felixstowe & Walton have announced a pre-season friendly against a Town U23/U18 side at the Goldstar Ground on Tuesday 3rd August (KO 7.45pm).
A fixture away against the Seasiders has become a regular feature of pre-season with an U23s side winning last year’s match 3-0 with Zak Brown netting two penalties after trialist Jack Hanson had grabbed the opener.
The game is the first pre-season match to be confirmed but with manager Paul Cook having said prior to the final-day game against Fleetwood that his plans were essentially in place.
"As far as I’m aware I think nearly probably 90 per cent, 95 per cent is absolutely nailed down and done in terms of dates back, in terms of where we’re going, who we’re playing etc,” he said.
"I’m sure the club will be announcing all that stuff at some point because I think one of the most exciting things at the minute is the fact that fans are going to return. We’re all desperate for fans to return to football.
"I pride myself on fitness, I think as a manager, a coach, a club we want to know that our players will run a race, if you like.
"Football and sport now is an industry where data and analysis is so readily available and that comes from training, and we’ve got to work really hard.
"As you guys know, everyone wants to beat Ipswich and this team. Everyone wants to beat Sunderland, everyone wants to beat Portsmouth. That’s just part and parcel of working and playing and being involved with big clubs.
"So we’ve got to make sure that everything we can do that gives us that chance to just get ahead of our opposition, we make sure we do it.”
The squad will be back at Playford Road around the final week of June: "We actually report back six weeks before the start of the season [on August 7th], so whatever date that is, you can look at it six weeks before that.
"The reality for the lads is that they will have six weeks of intense training, doing all the tactics, all the fitness, all everything that we expect from them in the season.
"That first game of the season, hopefully we’re drawn at home. Hopefully to another big club in the league, ie whoever comes down, and we can see a packed Portman Road with a team on the pitch that we’re all excited about and looking forward to watching play.”