Tillen previews Bottesford Town test

Sam Tillen.

Sam Tillen is looking forward to City’s next pre-season outing against Bottesford Town on Saturday.

Tillen is excited by the prospect of his side getting experience against a senior side ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.

He said: “It’s great for the lads to be exposed to men’s football, that’s going to be really good. It’ll be good to get more minutes into the legs, but we’ll try to implement some more things offensively and defensively.

“I’m happy with where the lads are at, they’ve bought into it, they’ve worked hard. It was a tough week in Bath, we had lots of games and did loads of work with them.

“Coming out of that it will be good to implement the things we’ve been working on over the past couple of weeks and hopefully have a good performance on Saturday against good opposition.”

City’s game at St George’s Park was abandoned in the first-half due to a serious injury to a Qatar U20 player, with Tillen wishing the player all the best in his recovery.

He continued: “The most important thing is that he is okay and recovers well, with the best possible treatment to come back. It was all dealt with well and hopefully he can get back as soon as possible and we wish him all the best.

“It was good to get something out of it, with the training session. We got some intensity and that’s the main thing. We’ll be in a good position for Saturday, and we’ll be able to put a side out and have a good go.”