Jones confirms Town will be at full strength for Canaries trip

With the U18s away in Italy, then it’s expected Town’s squad will get a half each, to get them back in the swing of things before heading to Slovenia on Saturday morning.

Jones said: “The youth team are away and I doubt that me, Harty (Paul Hart), Mick (Harford) and Joaquin (Gomez) will be eligible to play, so we’ll have our full squad, a full quota will go there.

“We’ve almost got the full squad in place anyway, which is really, really positive for pre-season, so we’ll be working hard.

“It’s nice to get back in it, we like going to Hitchin, they’re good people over at Hitchin and we’ve got a good relationship with that club.

“The last two seasons we’ve gone to Bedford, this year it’s Hitchin and it will be good to give them a run-out.

“Everyone will get 45 minutes, but pre-season is a good time, especially early on when you’re finding your form, finding your feet, then you’ve got a real good gauge, and that’s what Friday night will be.”

The Hatters players have completed their first week back in training since winning promotion to League Two last year and on just how they’ve looked, Jones added: “Very well, as predicted, they’ve come back in real good shape.

“We’ve gone through our usual regimes and schedule as we have to try and keep everyone fit and healthy.

“They’re progressing nicely and the trouble is just holding them back really as they’re a good group and they’ve come back in good form.

“That’s a credit to them, but obviously we don’t want them peaking yet.

“We’ve gone into certain things, longer distances at the minute, we’ll taper that and break them down and sharpen them up and then we’re ready.

“We’ve got a good week to look forward to next week, it’s important we get to optimum performance and optimum physically but safely and that’s the main thing.”