Manager Andy Peaks and skipper Ben Milnes agree it’s now time to focus on fine tuning the new-look squad ready for the big National League kick-off in less than three weeks time.

The Lambs' boss has so far used pre-season to concentrate on fitness levels, increasing the players' game time, experimenting with his line-ups and he's pleased with the progress.

Now, though the pair say its time to be paying more attention to performances and partnerships as the boss deliberates over his starting line-up for the season opener at Boreham Wood on August 8th.

Peaks said: “All in all I think its going really well. The fitness levels are good so we are starting to to build match minutes, which is what pre season is all about.

“We are going to have a really fit team so now its up to us to iron everything out that we need to, to be ready for Boreham Wood.

“Saturday’s game against Halesowen will be a chance for the players to cement their places in the team. We’ve got two in each position so I’m hoping the standard continues to improve as the players show me who wants to play that first game.”

The Lambs have played five pre-season games so far, winning three against Walton & Hersham, Lichfield City and Stoke City under 21’s.

Skipper Ben Milnes likes what he’s seen so far, saying: “Pre-season has been good so far, we’ve had a few different tests and we’ve obviously got quite a new squad compared to recent years.

“The new lads have settled in really well and it looks like we’ve got some great quality in the group heading into another year in the National League.”

Tuesday night saw a young Aston Villa side visit The Lamb in a 2-1 defeat for Tamworth, in what was a game of two halves.

Milnes added: “The game against Villa was a bit of a strange one, we had the chances to be 3 or 4 up at half time.

“We lost our way a bit in the second half, so it was a good reminder of what can happen if we don’t take our chances while we are on top.”

The Lambs boss was disappointed to lose but happy to see his side creating chances: “You never want to lose but there were a lot of lessons to come out of it, some positive and some negative. When you create enough chances to win three games you’ve got to take them. We should’ve been out of sight.

“I want us to defend better and start getting some clean sheets. When we aren’t taking chances one end we need to be able to stop them at the other.

“I’m sure the players that missed chances will score more often than not. They’re good players and pre-season is about learning and we did a lot of that on Tuesday night.”

The Lambs travel to Halesowen this Saturday at 3pm in what is our sixth test of pre season. You can buy your tickets HERE.