Stevenage begin their pre-season in front of fans at home to Watford - and manager Alex Revell says the new pitch is one of the things that he will be looking at.

The surface at the Lamex saw some modifications through the summer, with the introduction of artificial grass, sown into the surface, hopefully binding it together more and allowing more games to be played on there.

But the hybrid artificial surface has the potential to bring slight changes to the way the ball moves, all part of the learning and development side of pre-season according to the boss.

Revell said: "Pre-season for us is about learning and about developing. We're a new look team in terms of signings and in terms of the way we play at the moment. 

"And it's still relatively early at the moment. It’s still about us getting fit and strong. We've got to get time and minutes into the boys. 

"But we're looking forward to getting back, seeing the new pitch, seeing how that plays and being back in front of everybody. 

"We finished last year with a win and a positive kind of finish. Now we want to make sure that we grow through pre-season to make sure that when we start on August 10, we are absolutely at our best. 

"That's what preseason is for me. It's about learning from games to make sure that we understand where we need to get better. 

"That's what we'll do every day here in terms of training, but also in the games that we've got." 

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Once Watford is out of the way, Stevenage head to Jersey Bulls for their one away friendly before returning to the Lamex on July 23 to face another Championship side in Coventry City.

They then bring the curtain down on their pre-season match preparations with two games in the space of 24 hours, firstly away to Braintree Town on Friday, August 2 and then at home to Chelsea U21s on the Saturday..

Revell explained his thinking behind that.

"The two at the end will be two 90-minute games, two [Stevenage] teams," said the boss.

"I learned this a couple years when we got promoted from League Two. 

"We played West Ham on the Friday and then there was a group that went up to Peterborough Sports I think and played on the Saturday. 

"I just felt that worked really well, that all the players had 90 minutes.  

"And it's a good chance to see different players over the period, otherwise the last game would have people that don't play as often or as play as much and then it's unbalanced.  

"We’ll build to that so that everybody finishes pre-season with similar minutes, giving them the best chance to earn a shirt for the first game of the season. 

"You always have [to have] something to play for. 

"We’ll go to Braintree and that will be a tough game for us. Then on Saturday, at home to Chelsea, that is a great game for us again because it's a different type of test. 

"We've got a lot of football to play before then and we'll be alright."