CHELMSFORD City manager Rod Stringer insists he is not worried about the pre-season schedule following a 4-1 defeat to Cambridge United.

The Clarets were comprehensively beaten by the League Two side, albeit the hosts had eight trialists on show.

Dover Athletic, Ipswich Town and Braintree Town also form a tricky pre-season programme but Stringer took a lot away from the result at the weekend.

“I was really pleased with the first half,” said Stringer. “I was a bit disappointed to go two goals down early on [in the second half] but obviously we changed it after 65 minutes and we had a team with eight trialists out there.

“When you look on the flip side of it, that’s very difficult. But, when we had mainly the first team players out there in the first 65 minutes, I thought we looked OK.

“It’s pre-season and you have to go through this to try and get minutes. Unfortunately, at the minute, we’ve got six or seven players out.

“I’m not worried about pre-season games. I’m more worried about getting people back because when you look at it, there’s too many players – Shaun Batt, Jonny Giles, Taylor Miles, Mark Haines, Michael Spillane – that are out, and we need to get them back so we can try and get some minutes into them.

“Dave [Lawson, sports therapist] is working hard to get them back. He is having to work tirelessly hard to get it right and we’ll have to go from there.”

The Clarets continue their pre-season at Isthmian Premier League side Harlow Town on Saturday afternoon.

Chelmsford begin their National League South season against Torquay United on Saturday, August 4.