Harpenden Town continued their pre-season with two very different games and two very different results.
Saturday's game under the blazing July sun was a vital run-out against Hitchin Town, a club who play their football two levels higher than the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division side.
And although it was the Canaries who left Rothamsted Park with a 4-0 win, former Welwyn Garden City forward Callum Stead bagging a hat-trick, Harps coach Steve O'Reilly was more than happy with the positives taken by the hosts.
He said: "There were a lot of good points and it was a good test. Hitchin are a good team, a proper step three team and that is why we wanted to play them, we wanted to really test ourselves.
"We more than matched them in the first 30 minutes. We moved the ball well and we’ll take a lot from it.
"And it’s more minutes in the bank on a boiling hot day."
The mercury was only slightly lower when they played CB Hounslow United at Bedfont Sports but with the hosts playing at the same level it was always likely to be a good barometer for Town.
And they will have come away delighted with a 3-0 success, George Robinson among the scorers.
Colney Heath's game at home to Cockfosters ended with threatening skies and flashes of lightning in the distance.
It wasn't all sunshine on the pitch either as they fell to a 4-1 defeat, Jon Clements having put them ahead on 10 minutes with a fine finish from an inch-perfect through ball from new boy Charlie Clayton.
Skipper Jack Woods is still confident they are on track for the history-making bow in the Southern League.
He said: "It’s hard especially when you’ve got a few players out with COVID and it's hot too.
"We played Saturday [a 1-1 draw with Stansted], we’ve got a game on Thursday and we’re just chopping and changing, trying to figure out new things.
"There were new players out there so it’s just one of those things.
"It’s typical pre-season.
"We’ll get there though, it’s just finding a balance and finding what we want to do this season."
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