This represents our only pre-season game at home, against an Aston Villa eleven: how do you see that one shaping up?

I see it as being a very difficult game. I'm told they beat Walsall 5-0 so the troubles that they've got don't seem to be effecting the players. They'll know it's a football match and part of their fitness training, and so it will be for us. The important thing is the fitness, rather than the result, but like everything else, if you get into winning ways and get that winning attitude and feeling throughout the team, then it does help. So we'll be going out there  to try to win the football match.

Supporters are disappointed that its their second string, but in fact they will send a very interesting squad.

They have got a strong squad and they need that, for the Premiership. We don't actually know if its their reserve team or not. There could be six, seven, eight of their first team players on the night. We do know they are Premiership players and it'll be a difficult game for us. They will make us work; they'll stretch us, drag us in and put the ball in behind us, so it'll be a sterner test. After that, the game at Oxford will be a bit more physical, dealing with balls knocked in very quickly with power and pace.