The fixtures, released this week, then send the Nailers to successive away games at Carlton Town and Rugby Town before a home clash with Coalville Town.

But boss Jimmy Albans (pictured) said the only pressure on him and assistant boss Wayne Hallcro to succeed was being applied by themselves and he is delighted with how pre-season is going.

Last Tuesday, they lost 2-0 at Matlock Town before bouncing back to win 4-1 at Borrowash Victoria on Saturday and a comfortable 6-1 win against Chesterfield’s Academy side on Tuesday night.

“The Matlock game was a very good work-out in which we had a lot of possession but no end product,” said Albans.

“It was something we needed to work on and at Borrowash on Saturday we had a lot of the ball and we had an end product.

“Things are slowly but surely starting to come together and improving game after game. I couldn’t be any happier than where we are.

“The games are coming thick and fast. We have done a lot of hard work in pre-season and now we can see if these athletes, as they like to call themselves, who have been running and running, can actually play with the football.

“The club are not putting us under any pressure. But me and Wayne (assistant boss Hallcro) put ourselves under pressure and our goal is to get promotion.

“At the start of the season there will probably be 10 clubs/managers who want to get promoted including us.

"We put ourselves under pressure as you don’t perform if you are having an easy life.”

He added: “It’s three or four years since I last managed at this level as the last two or three years I have been at Premier level with Grantham and Belper and some of the teams I remember have moved up.

“Newcastle Town were a good team when I was at Grantham, Coalville will be in the mix and Basford United won their league and got promoted so will be confident.

“But it will take six to eight weeks to settle down and no one wins anything in August or September.”

Albans is happy with the squad he currently has, though would not rule out adding to it before the big kick-off.

“Sometimes at this time of year of a player in a higher division thinks he may start the season on the bench, he might look for a move to somewhere he thinks he will get regular football,” he said.

“We would never turn any player away if he is better than what we already have, but I am not a big believer of having a squad of 30 or 40 players training.”

Pre-season continues on Saturday with a game at AFC Mansfield (3pm) and at home to Mickleover Sports on Tuesday (7.30pm).

Article courtesy of Belper News