It will be a hectic start to the Vanarama National League season for Braintree Town.

The league fixture planners have handed the Iron a testing run of three away outings and four home games in the opening 24 days of the campaign – starting with a trip to Chester on the first day.

That fixture at Chester on Saturday, August 8, will be followed by the visit of Lincoln to Cressing Road three days later, before an attractive second home game against newly-relegated Tranmere Rovers on August 15.

A game at Bromley will follow on Tuesday, August 18, with a home encounter with Southport and a trip to Welling fitted in before Aldershot make the trip to Cressing Road on the last day of the opening month on Bank Holiday Monday.

It will all add up to a busy start for manager Danny Cowley and his team and things don’t get much quieter as they head into September.

The league has, as it did last year, packed plenty of midweek action into the pre-Christmas spell to free up Tuesday nights in the New Year in case games need to be postponed and rearranged.

Festive action has seen Braintree paired with top-flight newcomers Boreham Wood.

The Wood will host the Iron on Boxing Day, with the return game taking place on January 2, with a home game against Welling sandwiched between the two.

There is no Good Friday game this year, but an Easter Saturday home game against Bromley will be followed by an Easter Monday trip to Aldershot and the season will be concluded on home turf as Altrincham visit Cressing Road on April 30.

Braintree’s first action in the Emirates FA Cup is set to come in the fourth qualifying round on October 24, while FA Trophy involvement begins on December 12.