Pre-season has proved frustrating for Thetford Town so far.

The Brecklanders had to cancel last night's planned friendly against King's Lynn Town Reserves due to the effect the dry and hot weather has had on the Mundford Road pitch.

'We've been training for over a month and we were hoping to play on Saturday and then we had to call it off,' Town manager Danny White explained.

'The pitch is quite bald, the grass that is there is yellow and I know a lot of teams are having similar problems. Some have booked out 3G or 4G pitches so it's difficult to get in anywhere – we just need a bit of rain!'

White's team are due to make a delayed start to pre-season when they travel to Suffolk & Ipswich League side Old Newton United on Saturday. They then hope to host higher-level opponents with Dereham Town due to travel to Mundford Road on Tuesday (7.45pm) – but plenty of fitness work has still been pushed through.

'You want tough games, it's not about results at this stage,' White added. 'Of course you want to win but it's not overly important, Dereham will just be a good test against a higher-level opponent who have some really good players, but our lads are looking very sharp as well.'

The Brecklanders are building towards their opening Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties Premier Division fixture, at Stowmarket Town on Saturday, August 4, as they look to improve on last season's 12th-placed finish.

'We could have quite easily finished higher in my opinion – and probably should have,' White reflected. The table doesn't lie though, we are where we are and we've got to look to push on this season now.

'When you've got the likes of Stowmarket spending what they're spending and the players they're attracting, and Wroxham and Godmanchester, they're all good sides with good players capable of playing at higher levels, it's going to be difficult.

'The one thing I know we have though is lads who are all mates, we stick together, like we showed last year when we beat Coggeshall (3-2). '