TERRAS’ chief Jason Matthews insisted that “five or six” members of his first-team squad have now nailed down their starting spots for the opening league game of the campaign next month.
Matthews himself played just more than an hour as his side fought out a 1-1 draw with League Two outfit Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, with Chris Shephard scoring a second-half penalty for the hosts to level things up against the Pilgrims.
Assessing that performance, Matthews told Echosport: “It was a good run out and I appreciate Plymouth for coming and playing their first-team squad against us.
“The lads are getting a lot of minutes under their belts and the lads are giving a good account of themselves. We look potent going forward.”
He added: “It’s all about building for that first game of the season against Biggleswade.
“I encourage the boys to try and play and I felt that we did against Plymouth. We were relaxed on the ball and we were better than we were against Eastleigh.
“I feel that five or six lads have definitely nailed down their places now but that’s not to say they need to step off of it.
“It’s about making it tough for me to make decisions and, even in pre-season, you are trying to work the minutes around fairly and even that becomes difficult.”
Matthews also admitted he is looking to offer trialists Thiago Marques and Dan Thomas terms to stay with the club.
“I would like to offer them both deals. I will speak to the chairman,” he added, when asked about the pair.
“I feel that Dan will give me good competition for the position in goal and Thiago has been excellent.”
