BRAINTREE Town manager Glen Driver is looking for his fledgling Iron squad to make a strong impression as they get their first pre-season games under way this week.

Driver has had a very busy four weeks, having had less than a month to bring a squad together pretty much from scratch, but he is pleased with the players he has on board and expects a strong line-up to be named as his team's summer fixtures get going.

Iron open with a game at Thurlow Nunn League premier division side Newmarket Town on Saturday (3pm kick-off), with the second swiftly following on Tuesday when Isthmian League division north side Coggeshall Town will visit Cressing Road (7.45pm kick-off).

The Braintree boss said he was further advanced in his preparations than he had expected to be at this stage when he first took the helm and feels the players he has in so far can hit the ground running when they visit the Jockeys and then host the Seedgrowers.

He said: "We'll look to take a squad of 18 to Newmarket on Saturday and then a squad of 18 will face Coggeshall on Tuesday and I believe we will be strong in those games.

"That is important as the Braintree fans want to see what we are doing in practice, so we will have strong 18s for both those games.

"Time will tell if they have what it takes as I don't think you can fully judge anything in training alone and I'm looking forward to the games coming up, starting at Newmarket and then against Coggeshall.

"If we need to strengthen still then we do that.

"What we have done is given people a clean slate.

"I think only having three from last year's squad - Ikechi Eze, Alfie Cerulli and Jayden Gipson - shows how difficult the job was when we came in, but I am really enjoying it.

"It's been going well but I'm still looking to add to the squad in positions all over the pitch.

"We are having all types of players in, so we're saying to them 'this is how we are going about it' and we're giving them a chance to showcase their skills."