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Ashford Victoria will step up their pre-season preparations this weekend with a practice match against neighbours Ashford Spartans at William Road after training. The Vics begin the first of their five pre-season friendlies in two-weeks time against Division Four side Man of Kent, but Victoria manager Ryan Mills has organised for Spartans to join his side for an hours training before playing out a non competitive practice match for 70 minutes.

Victoria have a mixed record against Shaun Hardwick's side over the past three years, with Spartans winning the first meeting between the two sides 4-3 back in September 2006 at Hythe Road. Spartans raced into a 4-0 lead before Aaren Carlton and a brace from Darren Banks made the final score a little more respectable.

Later that season Jack Bundock hit a late equaliser to earn the Vics a point in a 2-2 draw, while the following season Aaren Carlton scored twice sandwiched between strikes from Bundock and Shane Jupp as Victoria got the 2007-08 season off to a flier with a 4-1 win.

The last time the two sides met was in December 2007, Bundock again amongst the goals with a double as Victoria dropped two crucial points in the Division Four title race in a 2-2 stalemate in terrible conditions.

"It will be something different and will help bridge the gap between training matches and the friendlies" said Vics manager Mills.

"It's hard to recreate the real match atmosphere in matches in training, sometimes the games lose a sense of importance and are not taken too seriously. But playing against an unfamiliar bunch of players, wearing club kits and with a referee and linesman, hopefully the boys will take a different mental approach to the training game than they would have done playing against their own team mates.

Mills will take the opportunity to take a closer look at several new players and traillists before trimming his squad next month. Former players Darren Banks and Mark Bennett will be included while new signing Joe Mort will also feature along with Chris Kemp, Liam Wratten, Danny Bushell and Matthew Deeble.

Squad...

1 Mark Bennett, 2 Luke Hendry, 3 Tony Mason, 4 Luke Stafford, 5 Ryan Martin, 6 Mark Rutland, 7 Shane Jupp, 8 Gary Foreman, 9 Matthew Deeble, 10 Wayne Cleave, 11 Joe Mort, 12 Sam Burgess, 13 Liam Wratten, 14 Josh Hatcher, 15 Darren Patterson, 16 Danny Bushell, 17 Darren Banks, 18 Samuel Mills, 19 Chris Kemp.