Garry Kimble is pleased to have kept the core of his Witham Town squad together as they continue building towards their first-ever season in the Ryman League premier division.

Witham won 3-1 in their pre-season game at Burnham Ramblers last weekend and head to Heybridge Swifts on Friday (kick-off 7.45pm), before a trip to Hertford on Tuesday (kick-off 7.45pm).

Boss Kimble is pleased with how his squad is shaping up, but is very aware that pre-season games will count for little once their life in step three of the non-league pyramid begins next month.

He said: “It’s been going OK, but I don’t tend to read too much into pre-season.

“The only thing you really want from it is sharpness and fitness, but the season is approaching quickly and we need to be ready to hit the ground running.

“I’m relishing it, but if I’m honest, I’m also apprehensive about it because there are some big teams in the premier division.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to hold our own and I’ve got an honest bunch of boys.

“We won’t really know until we’re about six or seven games into the season and we’ll see how we are then.

“We know every game will be hard work. There will be much better quality players and teams who we are facing and we have to match their desire, organisation and will to win.

“The fact that we’ve kept a lot of players together from the team that took us up is important.

“We’ve had James Stevens and Tom Wraight come back after both had looked set to move on and I’m pleased they are back.

“It helps give us stability and we’ve got some new lads to add extra strength."

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