Farsley Celtic get their pre-season preparations underway tomorrow as the Celts take on Dearn & District at the Welfare Ground.

After a three-month break the Celts are back in action as they kick-off for the first time in pre-season at 12:30 tomorrow when they face Northern Counties East Division One side Dearn & District away at the Welfare ground.

Being the first fixture of the pre-season campaign, the match offers Clayton Donaldson and his side the chance to build match fitness, as well as gel together before the start of the 2024/25 National League North season on Saturday 10 August.

Farsley have been busy in recent weeks with many new additions to the squad that survived the NLN drop last season, so Donaldson and his management team will be looking to Saturday’s game as well as the rest of pre-season to help mould their plans for the new season.

Donaldson himself is looking forward to the new season and the beginning of pre-season, saying: “We’re looking forward to the season ahead, first and foremost we have to deal with pre-season which has gone well.

“We came back last Saturday, had three sessions and we were back down on Thursday evening. The boys are looking good, the new signings as well are looking strong so we’re very optimistic about that.”

On Saturday’s match, Donaldson commented: “We’ve got out first pre-season game on Saturday which everyone is looking forward to because the games are what you want to be getting into when pre-season starts.

“It’s all about getting some game time now and minutes in the tank. It’s quite tough but it has to be done.

“We’ll be playing away from home, seeing how the new additions are getting on. It’ll be useful to see whose looking sharp. It takes six weeks to get to that level where you’re fully match-fit so we’ll take each game at once.”

On his hopes for pre-season, Clayton said: “We’ll be hoping for an injury-free pre-season as much as possible, for the lads to get through it unscathed and fully prepared. It’ll do them good and it’ll do us good as well.

“Hopefully we’ll have a good start on Saturday. Like I say it’s not about the result, it’s just about the performances and match fitness. That’s all it is. You don’t get any points for a win. Just match sharpness, fitness and getting back into the routine.

“Most likely we’ll change it up during the games and in between matches to experiment but like I say it’s not about the results.”