BRENTWOOD Town boss Les Whitton is preparing to whittle down his squad after this weekend's friendly fixtures.
The Blues take a side to Barking and another XI to Harold Wood on Saturday, and after those fixtures, the squad will be reduced in size as work starts in earnest before the start of the new season.
Sam Bantick's goal earned a 1-1 draw in their opening pre-season game at Little Oakley on Saturday, and Whitton was pleased with the workout his side had.
"It was very good," he said. "Especially bearing in mind that we haven't really kicked a ball yet, we've been working hard in training, there's been a lot of physical work, we haven't really done any short sharp stuff, we've been working on stamina.
"We were a little bit rusty around the goal, but in the main I was pleased, we had some good performances and I saw some things there that will benefit us in the future.
"I had 23 players there, put two teams out and there's obviously people there that are just being assessed and we're seeing if they're what we want.
"You're not going to get everyone you want though. It was a good game of football in hot conditions, it was quite a good tempo as well, so I was pleased with it. Defensively we were solid, their goal was the only chance they had, we were just a bit rusty up top."
Bantick is one player who was with the club last season who is still part of the Brentwood set-up, and Whitton – who has brought a number of players with him from Grays – was pleased with his efforts, as well as some of his other new faces.
"It was very good, a great finish," he added. "He had two strikes, one from a 25-yard free-kick which the keeper saved well.
"There's a few of them, the new boy Jake Cass was man-of-the-match and John Bradley who we've got from Concord played well too. We played some good stuff, we kept the ball for long periods and it was good."
The Ryman League season is scheduled to start on August 10, and although it could yet be delayed after Thurrock lodged an appeal against their relegation to an arbitration panel, Whitton is planning as normal.
"You don't know what they're going to do," he added. "Whether they'll stop the Thurrock games or stop all the games but we've just got to carry on and keep preparing for the tenth.
"We've got two games on Saturday, Barking and Harold Wood.
"We'll take a team to each and after those games I'll probably decide on quite a few players and we'll whittle the squad down to probably 20 and then we'll start working on formations, passages of play and individuals."