Ebbsfleet boss Danny Searle admitted it’s great to be back in action as they get their pre-season matches under way.

The Fleet travel to Southern Counties East neighbours Punjab United in their now-traditional curtain raiser tonight (Thursday).

Searle’s squad have come back in excellent condition, according to their manager.

“They have more than adhered to their off-season programme so they came back in good shape,” said Searle.

“When we did our testing on the first day a lot of the lads were hitting higher scores than they did in their testing midway through last season, so we were really happy with that.

“The standard so far has been very good with regards to mentality and the levels of work that they’re putting in, so we’re very pleased so far.”

There are now seven new faces in the squad from last season and Searle admitted they’ve settled in quickly.

“It’s almost like they’ve always been there,” he added. “It’s helped with the fact the players we retained are really good people and they’re a welcoming group and the lads we’ve got in are good people so It’s fitted quite nicely.

“The group is what you want it to be. It’s competitive, there’s competition for places and they’re all on board with what we want to do.”

The key against Punjab and in next Tuesday’s friendly run-out at Cray Valley will be to get gametime into the squad without picking up serious injuries.

Read more: Fleet start with long away trip

“The most important thing is to get the minutes in the legs,” noted the Fleet boss.

“Obviously we’re doing tactical work and that’s important, but getting them through the game with 45 minutes, coming through unscathed so we haven’t got injury problems before we even get into the season and start to drip feed in that philosophy that we want for next year.

“We can start to see those patterns, who understands it and who doesn’t understand it, and what work do we need to continue to do on the training pitch to make sure that by the time the whistle goes at 3pm on August 10 we’re in the best place we possibly could be with the period we’ve had to get the work done.”

Ebbsfleet fans know from the end of last season that Searle’s vision is to bring his players with him, so it’s no surprise that they’ve worked closely to align their core values going into the new campaign.

“It's about putting down our little markers as staff, what are our non-negotiables and what are the standards,” said Searle.

“We’re massive with player inclusion on that so the players have been heavily involved in setting what is our culture that we want for the season.

“It’s great to be back on the grass with the boys. It felt like the longest off-season ever but when it started it’s ‘wow, we’re back in full flow and we’ve got a game on Thursday’.

“We’re fortunate to be in the position we are and to work at this football club every day so we’ll embrace it and we’re delighted to be back on the pitch.”

Striker Nathan Odokonyero has returned to full fitness after missing the end of last season on loan at Tonbridge due to a hand injury.

“He hasn’t missed a minute of training,” confirmed Searle. “He has to be careful with it still in the sense it has to be strapped, but he’s in full-contract training and has been involved in all the internal games that we’ve done so he’s fine.”

Ebbsfleet have signed Jephte Tanga after he was released by Leyton Orient at the end of last season, along with former Southend midfielder Wes Fonguck.