Saturday’s pre-season clash with Ipswich Town is the perfect way to prepare for a tough opening to the Sky Bet League 1 campaign, says wideman David Bell.
Notts face a tricky opening to the season – an opening day encounter away at Sheffield United, before another tough test against recently relegated Peterborough United.
Both are considered to be among the favourites for promotion and Bell feels that the weekend’s Tractor Boys fixture will give the team an idea of what to expect.
He told Magpie Player: “It’s another test for us, as was Rayo Vallecano and Galatasaray, they’re big clubs with big players.
“We go into Ipswich, which will be another good test for us, they’re a Championship side with good players.
“We’re looking forward to it and it’s a good place for us to judge ourselves against teams that are higher than us.”
He added: “Against Sheffield United and Peterborough, we’re coming up against two sides that are going to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.
“The games we’ve had will stand us in good stead, because they’re going to be big tests as well and we’d like to think that we can match them.”
Bell played his first 45 minutes in the black and white stripes on Tuesday night against Rayo Vallecano and he is hoping to build up more match sharpness when the Magpies host Mick McCarthy’s side.
He continued: “I think you need five or six games before you can start talking about being match fit.
“I think the lads are on their eighth game now so I’m playing catch-up a little bit as it was my first 45 minutes on Tuesday night.
I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a bit more on Saturday and then we’ll look forward to the big game against Sheffield United.”
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