DANNY Scopes admits his Concord Rangers side are looking forward to a testing training camp this weekend.

The Beach Boys are without a pre-season friendly and Scopes is set to put his players through four sessions over the course of two days.

And Scopes, who was appointed as Concord’s boss in May, believes the trip away will prove crucial in bringing his new-look squad together.

Scopes said: “We have a brilliant break at the weekend where we’re going to Five Lakes.

“We’ll be able to get four good sessions into the boys over the course of two days, which is really good.

“Although we haven’t got the pressure of a match, we will be able to do some fitness testing to see where we’re at and work on a few things.

“We’ve been looking forward to this training camp since the start of pre-season and it will be a pleasure to be with the boys for the whole weekend as well.

“This is a good opportunity for team bonding as well because we’re a new group and the players are still getting to know each other.”

Concord make the trip to north Essex following a 5-0 defeat to Bowers & Pitsea in their latest encounter.

But Scopes was keen to take the positives from the loss.

“Games like the one at Bowers, where you lose 5-0, can actually be seen as a good thing in pre-season because you learn a lot more about your players,” added Scopes.

“I could see afterwards that a few of the players were disappointed in their individual performances and their collective performance.

“That’s a good thing because it shows they care, but I’m not too disheartened by the result.

“It is what it is in pre-season and you can’t get too high or too low with results.

“They’re a good side and there are no easy games in the National League South, so you’ve got to have a pre-season where you challenge yourselves.”

And Scopes believes the setback will give his squad plenty to work on at Five Lakes.

“It’s pre-season at the end of the day and I wouldn’t get too carried away whether we won 5-0 or lost 5-0,” insisted Scopes.

“We’re a new group - that isn’t an excuse - but we’ve got lots of work on.

“I think it is maybe a good thing that we have let in silly goals - one was a penalty so four were stupid goals to concede.

“That makes it clear that it is something we need to focus on.

“Bowers are very good at what they do so you have to give them a bit of credit for that.”