Steve Brown takes charge of his first game as a manager on Saturday when Ebbsfleet start their pre-season at Thamesmead.

The 41-year-old was unveiled as the new Fleet boss almost six weeks ago and has worked round the clock to assemble a new squad at Stonebridge Road.

Saturday’s friendly at Bayliss Avenue (3pm) offers Brown a first real chance to assess the fitness, quality and cohesion of his burgeoning group.

He said: “You can train as much as you like but nothing replicates match fitness, the twisting and turning, getting a feel for the football."

With the pitches at Fleet Leisure not ready, Ebbsfleet’s players reported for the start of pre-season training at Swan Valley Community School on Saturday.

They began ball work in Chislehurst on Tuesday and Brown was impressed by the way his new signings worked together.

He said: “It was really exciting. We had a couple of chats on Saturday and straight away I could tell there was a bond between the players. The encouragement levels were fantastic, they worked their socks off and I was pleased with how it went.”