There’s no need to read too much into the result of Sutton United’s first pre-season friendly and the defeat to a youthful Fulham side should not be a serious concern.

Indeed the performance in the first half, which saw United lead 1-0, was pretty solid and the scoreline might have been more but for some wasteful finishing.

With no disrespect to those who started on the bench, the starting team you feel would probably be the side starting the first league game, albeit missing Ross Worner, Nicky Bailey and Ryan Burge.

While reference may be made to Boreham Wood’s impressive win over Championship Brentford or Tranmere’s narrow defeat to a strong Liverpool side, pre-season is more about fitness than results; certainly the first half XI looked lively on that level.

SUTTON UNITED: Doswell excited by every fixture in the National League

SUTTON UNITED: Doswell and Baird... they said it would never work

They will certainly have to be lively come August 6 with a tough first few games of the season, including trips to two of the title favourites in Forest Green Rovers and Lincoln City in the first couple of weeks.

Even the first game against National League North champions Solihull Moors will be a tough challenge with Curzon Ashton showing us how strong that division is last season.

Over recent seasons, United have seemingly suffered from some sort of opening day curse, but there is no reason for this to continue this year, especially as changes to the squad have been minimal this season.

It is of course a huge step up to the National League, but it should be one the squad are confident of handling given their excellent performances last season.