SLOUGH Town joint-boss Jon Underwood is keen to give his players every chance to show what they are capable of this pre-season.

The Rebels returned to training last week and will step up preparations for the new season with a friendly match at Didcot Town this Saturday (1pm).

Slough will use different tactics this season on their new 3G pitch at Arbour Park, and Underwood will use the match at Didcot to get his message across to the squad.

“We have got a way that we want to play and will start to do a bit more tactical work,” he told the Observer. “We will start getting the message across to the players but that can take time.

“We will start playing the new system on Saturday but I don’t expect it to click in the first friendly. We will improve for the game and work from there.

“We want the players to work hard against Didcot and start to take on board what we are telling them.

“We’re going to take a big squad of around 20 players so the vast majority will only play one half. We don’t want 90 minutes straight away. It’s a case of building that up as we progress.

“It would be great to win but ideally we want a good performance with no injuries. Every pre-season game throws up something different.”

Underwood added: “I would be delighted to start the season with what we’ve got now, but the players have to show that this is the case.

“We’re really pleased with the new recruits and are not actively looking at the moment. We want to give this squad the chance to show what it is capable of.

“We will see what happens over the next eight games. If there is an area that we need to improve on then we would be open to making further changes.”

Underwood confirmed that the first training sessions could not have gone any better, and praised the players on their fitness and attitude.

“Gone are the days when players come back half a stone heavier,” he said. “The lads look after themselves a lot better and fitness levels have been excellent.

“They have put in some work on their own and are looking to impress. They’ve all done a bit themselves and we are impressed.

“You can see if someone hasn’t and is looking tired but we have no concerns about anyone.

“The numbers have been good and the outfield players have been doing some intense work together.

“We’re not believers in sending players on long runs. We try to make training as football related as possible and 90 per cent of what we do is short, sharp and intense work. We ask a lot of the players but they see a lot of the ball as well.

“We’ve been training on grass at Farnham Park and will use the 3G at Langley Academy, which is similar to what our pitch will be like. We want to be comfortable on both surfaces.”

Underwood continued: “We have mixed the players up so they get to know each other as best they can. It helps with the competition to show each other how good they are.

“I’ve been really pleased with the first two sessions, they could not have gone any better.”