Halstead Town are ready to take the first steps on what they hope will be the road to the Thurlow Nunn League premier division this weekend.

The Humbugs face an exciting start to their pre-season campaign, with Mark Benterman’s team hosting Conference South side Concord Rangers at Rosemary Lane today (kick-off 3pm).

It is the start of a testing run of summer fixtures, that continues on Tuesday with the visit of Ryman League premier division new boys Witham Town (kick-off 7.45pm).

Halstead hope their tough pre-season will prepare them in the right way for a campaign that they hope will end with promotion from Thurlow Nunn League division one.

And manager Benterman is looking forward to getting started.

He said: “We had a well-drilled session again this week and had 25 players there, so we’re just looking forward to Saturday now.

“It will be a challenge and we know that, but it’s exciting to play against higher-placed opposition from the Conference."

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