SALISBURY City’s preparations for the forthcoming Zamaretto Southern League Premier Division season continue this evening when Southend United visit the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.

Tonight’s friendly with the NPower League Two side was arranged after Tommy Widdrington departed for Roots Hall to work as assistant manager to newly appointed Blues boss Paul Sturrock.

First team captain Darrell Clarke and Mikey Harris have been in charge of first team affairs since Widdrington’s departure and have named an 19-man squad for this evening’s game, which kicks off at the earlier than usual time of 7.30pm.

Former Southampton striker Kayne McLaggon, who scored twice in the midweek friendly against Bemerton Heath Harlequins, is included along with a number of other triallists.

City Squad: Ryan Pryce, Tommy Smith, Dan Sheehan, Darrell Clarke, Ryan Brett, Patrick Cox, Brian Dutton, Daryl McLean, Matt Wright, Ben Joyce, Kayne McLaggon, Jason Silva, Adam Kelly, Jason Pena, Jamie Turley, Matt Barnes, Tom Dunford, Ben Adelsbury, Bradley Gray.

Chris Giles (calf) and Matt Barnes, who suffered a knock in the friendly against Bemerton in midweek, are sidelined through injury.

Darrell Clarke said: "The boys have been working very hard in training and so far things have gone really well.

"We're looking forward to welcoming Tommy back and seeing his new club at the Ray Mac and we're sure it'll be a good game."

Tommy Widdrington said: "It'll be nice to see everyone again. Because things happened so quickly when I left I didn't get the chance to say goodbye to a lot of people, so I'm looking forward to returning to the Ray Mac.

"Salisbury will always be the club I started the next part of my career with, so it's always going to be special for me. But I'm sure it'll be strange when I come down the steps to go into the away dug out and see Darrell and Mikey where I used to be."

Southend opened their pre-season campaign with a 2-0 reverse against Dartford, before drawing 1-1 with Championship side Derby County.

"Things have been very busy since I arrived at Southend," added Widdrington.

"We drew with Derby earlier this week and we'll be bringing down our strongest available squad to Salisbury."

So far, City have won three and lost one of their pre-season matches.

Kicking off with a 2-0 win against Alton Town, they put seven past Hamworthy United without reply, then lost 1-0 at Frome Town, before beating Harlequins 2-0.

Before their league campaign kicks off on Saturday, August 14 at home to Stourbridge, Whites play friendlies against Downton (away, Thursday, July 29), Andover (home, Saturday, July 31) and Basingstoke (home, Saturday, August 7).

The club is hosting an open day on Saturday, July 31 when its new home strip will be launched.