DANNY Scopes hopes Concord Rangers’ training camp will pay dividends.

The Beach Boys were put through their paces in four sessions over the course of two days at Five Lakes.

And Scopes believes the trip to north Essex allowed his new-look side to bond.

“It was a good weekend where we managed to tick every box we needed to cover,” said the Concord boss.

“We got some information into the squad and worked on different things we needed to nail down.

“I wanted to make sure that we’re all on the same page and it was another chance to get all the boys together.

“Team bonding is vital and it’s been quite easy because a lot of the group are of a similar age and on a similar pathway.

“They’re all winners and want to improve, which is great.

“We had two sessions on Saturday and another two on Sunday, while the lads also had their initiation songs.”

Concord will continue their preparations ahead of the new National League South campaign by travelling to Rookery Hill to face East Thurrock United tonight.

And Scopes is relishing the challenge.

“It will be another tough game, but we wanted pre-season to be difficult,” added Scopes.

“East Thurrock have recruited quite well after their relegation, while they have still got a few good players who were there last season.

“The season is fast approaching and we need to start changing our mentality.

“We lost 5-0 to Bowers & Pitsea in our last friendly and I’m looking for a bit of a reaction because we didn’t play as competitively at times as we should have.”

East Thurrock lost to Colchester United’s youngsters at the weekend.

And boss John Coventry is keen to see how his threadbare squad will recover in the space of 72 hours.

Coventry said: “Both teams have changed a lot since we last played each other on New Year’s Day.

“This is only our third friendly of the summer but, in each friendly, you’re looking for different things.

“We only have a small squad so tonight’s game will be a case of looking at how we have recovered from Saturday’s game against Colchester.

“We’re relying on a small number of players, so it will be a test for them and I’ll be interested to see their fitness levels.

“They have to start getting used to playing every Tuesday and Saturday as that happens regularly during the season.”