BILLERICAY Town captain Glenn Poole is relishing the chance to take on Football League opposition when Dagenham & Redbridge visit New Lodge tonight.
The SkyBet League Two side will be the fifth pre-season opposition for Craig Edwards' Blues, and the first from a higher level.
With their next three games ahead of the Ryman Premier season also coming against teams higher up the pyramid, pre-season is hotting up for Billericay – and midfielder Poole is looking forward to it.
"It's always good to play against teams like that," he said.
"It'll be a big test for us because we've played three teams lower down than us and we've coped really well, but it's always going to be a test against a pro team.
"We can see how far we've come along fitness-wise as well because they're full-time so they're obviously going to be fitter than us.
"But I think we'll be all right, it'll be a good challenge for us."
Now 32, the former Brentford man adds experience as well as quality to the Blues' engine room, and he is enjoying the build-up to the new campaign.
That is added to by the raft of new faces at the club, and Poole is pleased with how things are shaping up.
He added: "It's been a good pre-season to be fair, other than I missed Saturday's session due to a bit of a stomach bug, but other than that it's been really promising this year to be fair.
"It has surprised me. We've got a lot of new players in and they take time to settle, but I've been surprised at how smoothly it's gone so far.
"There's only me, [Dave] Collis and Junior [Luke] from last season, other than that it's all new players.
"The players that have come in didn't know anyone so it was literally a case of getting a brand new squad together and getting everyone to get to know each other on and off the pitch which is important, but to be fair, the harmony in the squad has been absolutely brilliant.
"It's been fantastic considering that we've only been together for three weeks so it can only be promising for the season."
The Ryman League Premier Division fixtures were announced last week, and the Blues will begin their season with a trip to face Harrow Borough.
They then host East Thurrock United and Thamesmead the following week before a trip to Maidstone, and Poole believes his side can hit the ground running.
"I think this year it's going to be a very hard league," he said. "From where we won it two years ago, this is going to be a much more competitive division and again, more so than last year.
"But with no disrespect to the teams that we've got early doors, they are games where we can really put a marker down on the season.
"Harrow's not always the best place to go but we'll fancy our chances.
"Getting a win on the first day of the season is the most important thing and then we've got two decent home games so we'll be looking to take as many points as we can.
"If we don't get off to a good start then people will start looking and saying 'oh, it's a new squad' and this, that and the other, people just look for excuses.
"We're not about that, Craig [Edwards] is not about that, I'm not about that and I think if we continue the way we're going so far then we will hit the ground running. I really do think we'll surprise a few people this year."
