Beadle covered the following topics:

His thoughts on the game:

“It was a very good exercise, all the matches we have played have been good for us. We haven’t had any easy games, Dartford got to to the play-off final last year so they were very close to being in our division this year. I am a little bit disapointed with the outcome of the game in terms of the attitude and application, it’s still pre-season so it’s a good chance for us to get it out of our system now.”

On the way the side are gelling:

“I think Scott (Loach) mentioned it last week, it may take a week or two into the season before we are really settled. But we expect to be ready and we will be ready to compete next Saturday. We have still got a couple of places to fill and hopefully we can do that this week and then we will be in a much better place.

“As the season starts to develop, leading up to Christmas I know we will be at full tilt. It’s a process but I know we will be ready to kick things off next week.”

On this week’s recruitment:

“They are fantastic additions for us. They have both got lots of experience and appearances under their belts and they are still only 25 and in Jerome’s case 26. They are at a fantastic age, we have seen lots of them in the previous weeks and they have still got that hunger and desire. They will add quality to the group and they will be key figures for us this season. 

On the dressing room mentality:

“We’ve always said that to be successful you need to have a tight and close changing room. But we also need one that isn’t afraid to have a go at one another, they need to want the very best out of each other. We’re slowly getting there with that and with our two newest additions they have got experience behind them and they will know the importance of a tight changing room. 

“We need to build a winners mentality amongst our group and that is exactly what we’ve been trying to do throughout pre-season.”

On Josh Walker’s absence:

“It was just a precaution, Josh felt some tightness in his groin after the Dulwich game. He had a couple of days to rest after that, he came in on Friday and trained. We just didn’t want to take a chance on him, we haven’t got the biggest of squads, so we need to be careful and cautious with them. Josh has looked really sharp in pre-season, so it would have been silly to bring him here and potentially make it worse for next week. 

“Hopefully, by the time next week comes around, he’ll be right back in contention to be selected for us.”

On the week ahead:

“We have just said in there that we are disappointed with the way the performance turned out. The result not so much, they probably will feel they deserved the win but we were in the game for long periods and there wasn’t much in the game. But we have just said that we are going to have a bright and intense week in preparation for that first game. 

“We’re not going to have fans in which is a great shame, but I know we will have their good wishes for us to get off to a good start next weekend.”

On the government announcement on the non-return of fans: 

“It’s so frustrating for everybody and for us, we want our fans to be able to come in and see this new team we’re trying to put together. They want to see some football, so it is frustrating on all counts. I find it a strange one that we can’t have our fans in an open-air stadium but you can go down the pub with six people to watch three games back to back. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but we have to accept the guidance we are given and just move forward with it.

“It’s important that we keep everybody safe, but it would have been really nice to have everyone in on the opening day, but unfortunately it isn’t going to be for now. Hopefully, we can have them in with us in the near future.”

On the team’s focus despite the uncertainty on the league’s start date:

“We’ve driven into the players that they have to forget about what’s happening off the pitch and the things they cannot effect. They need to focus on the things they can effect, organisation, training regime, fitness and pre-season as a whole. We have no control over what the people decide, so until we’re told otherwise we have to concentrate on ourselves. 

“In fairness to the boys, they have been great. They have trained really well, they have got their head down and they will be ready for next Saturday.”