Town continue their pre-season friendly programme with a second Saturday double header as they take on League One sides Cambridge United and Stevenage.

The Blues face the U’s at the Abbey Stadium at midday, then take on Boro at the Lamex Stadium at 3.30pm.

It’s Town’s second doubler header of pre-season, the Blues beaten Slovakian side Spartak Trnava 2-1 and drawn 2-2 with Flyeralarm Admira last Saturday in Austria.

As in those matches, Town will field a different team in each of the matches with one or two youngsters likely to augment the two senior squads.

New loan signing Omari Hutchinson could make his first appearance for his new club in one of the matches.

Speaking after Wednesday's 2-1 win at Preston North End, manager Kieran McKenna, who will be attending both games, said he hoped Harry Clarke (tendon), Janoi Donacien (tendon), Wes Burns (calf) and George Edmundson (ankle) would be involved at the weekend.

“I’ll make the dash,” he said. “It’s a busy couple of weeks and a busy couple of Saturdays but it’s a great way to do it.

“It gets everybody minutes. I think you can see in the players, the benefits they’ve had from the last few weeks and the fact that we have had plenty of minutes.

“Sometimes it’s a bit busy and bit stressful for the staff, and it’s not always the smoothest on the pitch because everyone’s focus is split over two games, but I don’t think you can put a price on everybody getting those sort of minutes at the moment.”

The Blues beat the U’s 3-0 at Portman Road in League One last season before drawing 1-1 at the Abbey Stadium as Mark Bonner’s side successfully battled relegation and ultimately finished 20th.

There are one or two familiar faces in Bonner’s squad including striker Gassan Ahadme, who is set to come up against his teammates having joined the U’s on loan for the season earlier in the summer.

Former Blues Jack Lankester and Paul Digby are also currently at the Abbey Stadium, while veteran defender Ryan Bennett was an academy player at Playford Road before being released at 16.

Stevenage finished second in League Two last season to win promotion into League One.

Town last played Boro in a League Cup tie at Portman Road in 2016 when the visitors ran out 1-0 winners.

The Blues were set to play Boro in a pre-season friendly in July 2021 but the game was postponed due to Covid issues at the Hertfordshire club.

Town previously played a pre-season game at the Lamex in July 2007 when they were beaten 3-0 by the then-Conference side.

A familiar face in the Stevenage squad is forward Jordan Roberts, who signed a new one-year deal with Boro on Thursday.

Tickets for the Cambridge game will be available online until 11.30am on the day of the game here and from the ticket office at the Abbey Stadium until kick-off.

For the Stevenage game, tickets will be available on the day from the away ticket office at the Lamex Stadium.

Matchday Images

ArnieM added 20:15 - Jul 21 Heavy rain forecast for most of the day on Saturday… that’ll add another element to our preps… bit of a leveller?
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Eyesyckle added 10:02 - Jul 22 Any way of watching these anywhere?
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