FC Halifax Town make the 400 mile round trip tomorrow to face last season’s Vanarama National League South play-off winners Braintree Town in the opening game of the 2018/19 season.
Town boss Jamie Fullarton has spent the summer preparing for the game in Essex tomorrow and will be hoping his new look side can start the new campaign returning north tomorrow evening with three points.
Town have had 6 competitive games in pre-season with two wins, both coming away from home at Brighouse Town and Coalville Town with the Town boss more concerned over performances than results before the season starts.
Braintree began their pre-season with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Thurlow Nunn Premier Division side Newmarket Town before this time being on the end of a 4-0 demolition at the hands of League Two outfit Colchester United.
They then went on to put in an impressive showing disposing of the Championship’s Ipswich Town 2-0 thanks to a brace from potential danger man Aryan Tajbakhsh. The win was followed with respective 0-0 draws and a 1-0 wins against Essex rivals Chelmsford City and Coggeshall Town before suffering a 3-0 defeat to Cambridge United in their final pre-season game before hosting Town on the opening day (Read our form guide here)
The last time the two sides met at Cressing Road was in February 2016 and Town were defeated 2-0 courtesy of goals from Kenny Davis and Michael Cheek. Town have never scored at Cressing Road in previous three meetings (Read our We’ve Met Before article here)
One of the key men tomorrow for Braintree will be Lyle Della-Verde who played for Dartford last season (Read our player spotlight here)
Just Sam Johnson, Matty Brown, Matty Kosylo, Niall Maher, Jacob Hanson and Ben Tomlinson played for the Shaymen last season who will be in contention for next season, so there will be plenty of competitive debuts for Town tomorrow in Essex.
League Games tomorrow:
AFC Fylde vs Bromley
Aldershot Town vs Barnet
Barrow vs Havant & Waterlooville
Boreham Wood vs Dagenham & Redbridge
Dover Athletic vs Wrexham
Eastleigh vs Solihull Moors
Ebbsfleet United vs Chesterfield
Harrogate Town vs Sutton United
Maidenhead United vs Gateshead
Maidstone United vs Hartlepool United
Salford City vs Leyton Orient (12.30pm)
Read our preview of the other games here
Match Coverage:
There will be live updates and commentary available on the club website and Shaymen TV.
You can also follow the action via Town’s official Twitter account, @FCHTOnline.
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