BRAINTREE Town boss Danny Cowley believes this weekend’s final friendly at Ebbsfleet United will be perfect preparation for the new Vanarama National League.

With just over a week before the season kicks-off, the Iron – who scored a last-gasp winner to beat Dagenham and Redbridge 2-1 on Tuesday night – cross the Essex-Kent border on Saturday.

Cowley is expecting a tough challenge and one that will be an ideal test for his squad, as they fine-tune their preparations for the campaign ahead.

“Ebbsfleet have been enjoying a nice pre-season off in Portugal and we’re expecting a competitive match,” he said.

“They should provide a real challenge for us.

“They have top players for their league and a top budget, too.

“It’s the closest we’ll get to a league game so for our final friendly it makes sense.”

Braintree had a frustrating weekend, with their two scheduled friendly fixtures both postponed.

The Iron were due to take on Bury Town on Friday, before travelling to Lowestoft on Saturday.

However, neither game took place because of waterlogged pitches.

The side instead had to resort to an inter-squad friendly, involving the entire squad, which was played at Cressing Road.

“It’s been a really tough pre-season for the lads, despite what’s happened,” said Cowley.

“I’ve never known a game to be called off in pre-season in all my career, so to have two cancelled in consecutive days was a nightmare.

“We had to make the best of a bad situation and continued to train on Friday, after the news from Bury.

“Then when Lowestoft called off the game on Saturday, we decided to organise an inter-squad friendly to at least give the boys some playing time over the weekend.

“It really didn’t go to plan but the boys still applied themselves excellently and I’d say the whole experience was worthwhile in the end, for fitness levels if nothing else.”

With the clock ticking towards the new season, Cowley (pictured) admitted there’s still changes to be made to his squad.

“There’s still going to be movement each way,” he said. “We have a few trialists but, in truth, we have a small squad and so we really need players with versatility.”