Fleetwood Town goalkeeper David Lucas says the squad must focus on their own game this season against the unpredictable nature of League Two opposition.
The Cod Army made their first ever appearance in the Football League last time out, achieving a 13th-place finish after initially challenging for the playoffs.
But 35-year-old Lucas, who is also part of Graham Alexander’s coaching staff, believes the unknown qualities of players in the division will still cause surprises on match day.
Lucas said: “At our level, teams are unknown until they get into their stride. It’s not like the Premier League where you know all the ins and outs of the players.
“Anybody can do anything in this league, so if you start worrying about their players too much you can lose focus on your own game.
“We want to be the people that the opposition worry about. We’ve got a game plan and we stick to it. We’re good enough to compete and beat anyone in this league.”
Town concluded their pre-season fixture list with a 1-1 draw away to Southport on Saturday, with former favourite Jamie Milligan levelling David Ball’s opener.
And with kick-off to the new season against Dagenham and Redbridge on August 3, Lucas insists it is important not to over-prepare for the first fixture.
“In the last week (of pre-season) you need to be careful not to overdo it and be over-prepared,” he said.
“Going into the season everyone knows their jobs now and what’s expected of them, so it’s nice to build that confidence up and feel that you’ve got everything under your belt that you need going into the season - but you still want to be chomping at the bit as well.”
Fleetwood recorded two impressive wins against League One opposition at Highbury going into the Southport match – toppling Preston North End 4-0 before a 2-0 victory over Coventry City.
And as the results were only followed up with a draw at the Merseyrail Community Stadium, Lucas pointed out the need to return to the two performances at Highbury.
“With the heat and the sticky pitch at Southport we couldn’t impose ourselves onto the opposition as much as we’d like, but as you saw in the Preston game, we want to be forcing ourselves onto the opposition high up the pitch with our directness and our dynamism.
“It’s about getting the ball up front, holding it and getting plenty of people in support. I guess that will be our theme – to have lots of energy in the team this season.”