Burton Albion captain John Mousinho reckons that the Brewers' pre-season friendly opponents will give them a stern test ahead of their second Championship season.

Albion face the prospect of eight more pre-season matches ahead of their Championship curtain-raiser on August 5 against Cardiff City at the Pirelli Stadium.

They have got off to a good start thus far, with 5-0 and 4-0 wins against Kidsgrove Athletic and Mickleover Sports respectively kicking off pre-season in a ruthless manner.

It is a fairly balanced regime for the Brewers in the coming weeks, with games against non-league sides Solihull Moors, Matlock Town, Rocester, and Arnold Town on the horizon.

Burton Albion captain John Mousinho
Burton Albion captain John Mousinho

Those tests are allied with games against League One duo AFC Wimbledon and Shrewsbury Town, the latter of which is sandwiched in between home clashes with the Premier League's Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion.

Burton fans will hope to catch a glimpse of Nigel Clough's possible starting line-up on July 26 in that match against West Brom, as his matchday squad begins to take shape.

Mousinho is relishing the challenge of heading to 'smaller' clubs and being seen as a target for those sides this summer, while also looking forward to testing himself and his Brewers side against former Premier League champions, among others.

He is under no illusions about the stature of these matches, though. At this stage of pre-season, they serve much different purposes to what will happen a few weeks' down the line.

But as most players will testify, there really is no substitute for a proper football match, a chance for players to gauge where they are at in their pre-season preparations and learn how new faces play.

For the Brewers skipper, it's all about match fitness, and any of the squad will tell you that what they may lack in quality, they more than make up for in their desire to be first to every ball.

"We'll have a few good weeks now of games - and match fitness is the most important thing," said Mousinho.

"We do a lot of work on the training pitch to get our base fitness up and to get us ready to play in matches.

John Mousinho of Burton Albion
John Mousinho of Burton Albion

"But obviously the match is the most important thing, they're going to be the ones that replicate the actual games during the season.

"We've got a great variety of teams we're playing against, teams that are below us who are playing at a very competitive level and they're going to want to beat us.

"And teams that are flying high and above us - the Premier League champions from a couple of seasons ago - so it's a brilliant variety of games, and we're going to need to be very well prepared for those games."

Mousinho was quick to point out that there are no targets set in pre-season. It is simply all about coming through the summer fit and firing and, crucially, without any injuries.

"I think the target for the pre-season friendlies is to make sure you don't get injured, get your fitness levels up, get on the ball, play as much as you can, just really look after yourself and make sure you get everything right to get yourself right for the first game of the season," he added.

"That's your target in pre-season, and then come the season there'll be no target - it'll just be to win the next game.

"If we take care of business and do that then we should be fine."