Nunn confident Diamonds will ‘iron out the creases’ during pre-season programme

And boss Chris Nunn is satisfied with what he’s seen so far as they now prepare for their first outing of the summer at Hayden Road when they host Leighton Town in their latest friendly on Saturday (3pm).

Diamonds opened up with a 1-0 defeat at Real Bedford last weekend before drawing 1-1 at Kempston Rovers on Tuesday night, summer signing Ethan Johnston scoring his first goal for the club.

And, with more tests to come against teams from a similar level, Nunn is confident his team will “iron out the creases” for the start of the Northern Premier League Midlands season, which begins with a home clash against Sporting Khalsa on August 12.

“Real Bedford aren’t really a Step 5 team, we have to be honest about that, and we have drawn away at a Step 4 side on Tuesday,” Nunn said.

“We have another Step 4 team in Leighton on Saturday so that’s another good test and I am sure Histon away next Tuesday night will be a really tough place to go.

“These are the games I wanted. Don’t get me wrong, you’d love a game at home against a Football League club in front of 1,000 because it would be good financially. But you’re not going to learn anything from games like that.

“Tuesday night and last Saturday were proper games and that’s what we need.

“I do get frustrated at times because I feel players should know some of the things that aren’t quite happening but it’s my job to make sure that come August 12 they do know it all.

“We will be training again this week and we will be looking to iron out those creases to try to ensure we don’t make the same mistakes.”

Nunn has already had to deal with a bit of player unavailability in the early stages of pre-season but he insists that’s something every club at the level has to deal with.

“You always want to try to get your best players out there but pre-season is difficult because you always have people away at some stage,” he added.

“But that’s what football is like at this level. If they were all on massive contracts, on big money and getting paid from July 1 then they have to be there but that’s not the case for us.

“It’s difficult not being able to get a consistent team out there with unavailability but that’s not a criticism of the players because we are all entitled to time off.

“Everything everyone is doing at the moment is all voluntary.

“But I will say that I do feel like I have a great set of lads and they really care.

“There have been some really positive signs and we have had great support in both games as well.

“If the season was starting on Saturday, I’d be feeling okay about it.

“I could probably do with another midfielder with a bit of experience but it’s about finding the right person who will buy into the project we are trying to build here.”