Blues Face Paderborn in First Friendly Saturday, 6th Jul 2019 10:18 Town begin their pre-season friendly programme this afternoon when they face Bundesliga new boys SC Paderborn at the Stadion Laumeskamp in Delbrück (KO 3pm local time, 2pm UK). The Blues squad flew out to their training base from Dortmund on Thursday ahead of what manager Paul Lambert said a week ago would be 10 days of hard work. “It will be next week when we go to Germany that pre-season will really kick in I think,” Lambert told the club site. “The time out there will be huge for us. The players will be living in each other’s pockets. You have to respect each other. “They will be working hard and they have to try and do everything we ask of them to prepare for that first game in August. “We are facing some good teams out in Germany. That helps with the preparation but it’s about the whole trip and working together out there.” Reflecting further on Town’s opposition in Germany both today and at the Interwetten Cup in Meppen next Sunday, he added: “I know the teams, we couldn’t have picked any harder teams, that’s for sure, two from the Bundesliga. “Paderborn have done fantastically well to get to the Bundesliga, and Fortuna Düsseldorf have had a great season, so they’ll be really hard games to play. “But it’s a place that I know really well and a place where there’s no real distractions or anything like that. You’re there to work, and you work hard.” Among those to have travelled to Germany are recent signing James Norwood and Alan Judge, who were given additional time off this summer having been involved with Tranmere’s successful League Two play-off campaign and on international duty with the Republic of Ireland at the end of last season. Danny Rowe flew out to join up with the squad on Friday, along with general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill, having stayed behind on Thursday due to a passport issue. Youngsters Armando Dobra and Bailey Clements are also in the party in Germany. Town are likely to field a different XI in each half with there being a question mark regarding Judge's involvement due to the broken wrist he suffered with Ireland, although he has been pictured with the rest of the squad ahead of training sessions in Germany. Winger Gwion Edwards is also behind the rest of the squad having missed the first few days of pre-season as he recovered from the groin injury which hampered him towards the end of last season. Friendly opponents Paderborn won promotion in 2018/19 having finished second in the Bundesliga 2. They feature one name familiar to Town fans, defender Uwe Hunemeier, who was with Brighton for three seasons until 2018. Paderborn got their pre-season off to a lively start on Wednesday when they smashed local side VfB Salzkotten, who play in the Kreisliga A, the ninth tier of German football, 20-0. They fielded a different XI in each half and may well do the same against Town. The venue for this afternoon’s match, the Stadion Laumeskamp in Delbrück, which is just outside Paderborn, is the home of Delbrücker SC, who play in the Westfalenliga 1 (VI), the sixth tier of German football. It is the third proposed venue for the match. Originally it was set to be staged at the Biekra Sportpark in Bielefeld before it was switched to the Cronsbachstadion in Steinhagen. However, police raised concerns regarding security due to there being no way of segregating fans and it was belatedly moved to the Stadion Laumeskamp.
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