ST NEOTS Town have announced three high-profile friendly matches ahead of the new season – including a visit from a Tottenham Hotspur XI. The Premiership club will visit Rowley Park to face St Neots on July 28 at 7.30pm. Saints boss Steve Lomas said he ha

ST NEOTS Town have announced three high-profile friendly matches ahead of the new season - including a visit from a Tottenham Hotspur XI.

The Premiership club will visit Rowley Park to face St Neots on July 28 at 7.30pm.

Saints boss Steve Lomas said he had used his connections with Spurs boss Harry Redknapp, who managed Lomas at West Ham United, to arrange the match.

"I had a word with Harry, and he was kind enough to agree to send a team to play us. The match will be a bit of prestige for the club, and a treat for the people of St Neots," said Lomas.

The team will be managed by former Spurs striker Clive Allen, currently development manager at the club.

"You can be sure that the team they will bring will be strong - there may well be some stars of the future appearing at Rowley Park.

"It will be a good test for the boys to go up against players from the very top of the game, and to see how they compare," said Lomas.

The Tottenham game will follow matches against Luton Town's first-team on July 10, and Championship hopefuls Peterborough United on July 15.

The news of the high-profile friendly matches is sure to increase interest in the Rowley Park club, who have already been inundated by inquiries from players keen to join for next year.

The level of interest has been so high that the club have been forced to organise a number of behind-closed-doors trial matches to evaluate the players.

The lure of St Neots has caused problems for other Hunts football clubs, who have found player recruitment difficult when competing with St Neots.

"We've had a lot of interest from players, but that's only natural," said Lomas.

"Players can see that this is a club that is going places - the facilities speak for themselves, we are ambitious, and there is a buzz about the place," said Lomas.

"It will be a few weeks yet before we have anything finalised, because of the nature of putting together a squad at this level.

"Matters are often left to the last minute - if you have a squad finalised four weeks before the start of the season then you are doing very well," he said.

The club anticipate that the three fixtures will see record crowds ahead of a season of high expectations at Rowley Park.

St Neots will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the result the last time they faced Spurs, in a friendly in the early 1980s, when Saints were on the wrong end of 9-0 defeat.