CHAMPIONSHIP side Southampton will provide Basingstoke Town with a stern test when they visit the Camrose next month.
Saints, who appointed former Holland international Jan Poortvliet as their new head coach last week, will travel up the M3 to play Town in a pre-season friendly on July 12.
The fixture will be Basingstoke's opening pre-season game and, while Southampton are expected to field a mixture of first team and youth players, Town manager Frank Gray is looking forward to the match.
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"It's a good fixture for us," he said. "We will only have had two training sessions, but it should be a good test and will give me the chance to have a look at some players.
"They have got a new manager, so there could be a few new faces in their side. It will be interesting and should be a good one for the fans."
The fixture was organised by Basingstoke chairman and president Rafi Razzak, who has links with Southampton.
It will kick off at midday because Saints are understood to have another fixture in the afternoon, with their squad divided between the two games.
Southampton join Oxford United, Salisbury City and Thatcham Town on the list of clubs that Basingstoke will face in pre-season.
Blue Square Premier outfits Salisbury and Oxford will visit the Camrose on July 19 and 26 respectively, with both matches kicking off at 3pm, while Town will travel to Thatcham on August 8 (7.45pm).
"When we come to play the other games, we will have a more settled squad," Gray added.
"By then, we should be looking at the squad that we will go into the season with."
Admission for all three of the home friendly matches organised so far will cost £9 for adults, with the price for concessions and children still to be announced.
More friendly matches, including a testimonial for former player, coach and caretaker-manager Steve Richardson, are likely to be announced in the coming weeks.
"There are a couple more friendly fixtures in the pipeline, which is good," Gray said.
"Ideally, I would like to play seven games before the start of the league campaign."
While Gray has not added any more players to his squad this week, he says he has been in contact with several potential targets.
Basingstoke will not travel to Cambridge City next season after the club were demoted from the Blue Square South. Their Milton Road ground failed to reach the required standard and the Football Conference's decision to demote them because of this was upheld by the FA at an appeal last week.
The decision means that, for the second consecutive season, Weston-super-Mare will avoid relegation, despite finishing in the bottom three.
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