LEEDS United arrive at Plainmoor tonight for the first serious test of the pre-season campaign.
The Gulls have enjoyed comfortable victories over the Royal Marines and Tiverton Town, but the mentality within our squad now changes.
For manager Martin Ling, it will be an opportunity to gauge our fitness and defensive capabilities ahead of the season-opener against Leicester City in just 18 days time.
“The mentality changes for the first time in three games because the pressure is now totally off us and placed on Leeds,” said Martin. “When it comes to pre-season games, people expect the opposition to roll over but it’s never like that.
“We will gain a bit more fitness from chasing the ball tonight and we’ve probably enjoyed around 80% of possession over the last two games. Those stats will be very different against Leeds and a chance for us to work on our defensive side.
“Sometimes in pre-season, these are the better games to have because it may show us some of the deficiencies we’ve got and an indication of what we need to work on.”