King's Lynn Town get their National League North season underway at Bradford Park Avenue

King’s Lynn Town manager Tommy Widdrington says his side are as ready as they will ever be going into the new season.

Following last season’s relegation, the Linnets will start their campaign in the National League North at Bradford Park Avenue.

It will be Widdrington’s first full season at The Walks and he said he understands people’s expectations that the club might bounce straight back up to the National League.

He said: “Because we came from the division above we’re going to be expected or should come close to going back up.

“We’re in this league, we take every game as a one-off project and hopefully we can be successful.

“Obviously the ultimate aim is eventually to get the club back in the National League and beyond if possible.”

Widdington said that pre-season preparations and matches had gone “really well”, with a good variety of opposition teams:

He said: “We’ve had a mixture of opposition, from Norwich City, MK Dons, Peterborough United, to lower level clubs like Haringey, St Ives and Lowestoft.

“So, from that point of view, we’ve had a real mixture of tests and puzzles to unlock. And we’ve done really well against all variants.

“I’m really pleased at the way the lads came back to training in the first place. We’re in good shape and we haven’t really had any issues through injury. We’ve had one or two knocks and niggles but we’re going into the first game quite as healthy as we possibly can be, with only one or two people with longer standing problems still not available.

Despite the Linnets’ good pre-season form, Widdrington was keen to point out that it can not automatically be assumed that this would translate into a high quality performance in the league when the whistle is blown at 3pm and henceforth throughout the season.

He said: “I don’t read the results of matches in pre-season as an indicator, but what I do is look at the end of the previous season. The group of players that we had then, and the vast majority that we’ve retained from that group, were in very good form – at a level above this one.

“So that gives me cause for optimism and continuance.

“We’ve certainly bottomed out in the way the club was going, and I think the players are believing in what they are doing. And I think going forward, we’re all in a positive state of mind – staff and players.

“This time we’re on the starting line, the same as everybody else. The squad’s been put together and they’ve been prepared as best we can do. I do feel that the qualities of the players that we’ve brought in are slightly a variant of what we already have. So the mixture looks good from where I’m standing.

“All it is now is we can’t wait to get started. Just bring it on.”