Gillingham 1st XI take on Hastings

The Coca-Cola Championship club (formerly Nationwide Division One) have promised to send down the likes of former Norwich City legend Iwan Roberts, Andy Hessenthaler, Hastings-based former Spartan Youth FC player Richard Rose and the highly-rated Danny Spiller - older brother of United's Ricky.

Hastings were originally due to tackle a Gillingham XI (which probably would have comprised predominantly reserve team players) on Thursday July 22 but the switch has come about following the last minute cancellation of the Kent club's scheduled tour of Ireland.

"It's brilliant," enthused United manager Steve Lovell, who was approached by Hessenthaler about the fixture's viability through his links with Gillingham's youth section. "I spoke to Andy and he asked if he could come down and have a game. A lot of pre-season friendlies, teams bring down their under-19s but they promised a first team - the senior players who have played this year.

"It's a great prospect and a great opportunity for our boys. It's going to be a helluva game for us because we would have only done two training sessions before that time and they will have been back for three weeks. It's perhaps 10 days earlier than I would have liked to play but it's match practice and you won't get better match practice than playing against Division One players. I'm sure it will be an education for them and it will be interesting to see how they do with Division One players. But I think they will do alright."

Lovell hopes to use "17 or 18" players, one of which is likely to be widely-regarded new midfielder Alan Tutton, previously of Tongbridge Angels. The Pilot Field boss has also secured the services of goalkeepers Chris May and Danny Knowles on rolling lone agreements once again. But with Mark Green "not committing himself" Lovell "has got to look out for a replacement" in addition to a striker to complement Chris Honey and Carl Rook. He added that he hasn't had any of last season's squad "ring up and say they're not coming back".

Kick-off is at 7.45pm and admission is just 6 for adults, 3 for pensioners and 2 for under-16s.