The Wood host the Lambs in their Enterprise National League opener today as they aim to go one better than last season and secure their first promotion to the Football League.
Their opponents have had a summer of change both on and off the pitch, with 24-year-old American real estate investor Abdullah Ashraf completing a takeover of the Staffordshire-based club, with several new faces also coming through the door.
Garrard analyses the tough test which awaits.
“They have got similar characteristics to last year; they have obviously gone and done a little bit more business with the takeover,” he explained.
“I went and watched them live against AFC Telford (United) last Saturday; they probably didn’t present the team I can imagine it will be close to on Saturday.
“It’s irrelevant what I feel they are going to select: we need to make sure we are right on our job.
“We need to understand and appreciate what their strengths are and play to the level we have been playing at during pre-season.
“We know what they are going to bring in terms of their long throw from (Tyler) Lyttle, their presence inside the box but we need to make sure that we are in the right frame of mind to implement everything that we have been doing.”
The 40-year-old is also keen to point out that his squad has a clean bill of health heading into their league opener.
“We are at full fitness which is brilliant,” he said.
“I’ve always said the best ability is availability and we have had a full week of preparation for Tamworth.
“We spoke a lot about our set–pieces, for and against, and making sure that we had an attitude towards that because it is going to play a huge part in our success this season.
“We have a full squad going into it and we are all looking forward to it.”
Having signed four new players to Meadow Park in July, the National League Cup holders have bolstered their attacking ranks this week with the additions of Danny Cashman and Farhaan Ali Wahid from Crawley Town and Fulham respectively.
Garrard is full of praise for the personnel who have been brought into the building.
“I think the recruitment has been excellent,” he said.
“Cashman is someone we have admired for a long time and he has been brilliant in the way he has performed against us for Worthing and Sutton United.
“He suits our narrative in terms of the way we play and he has moments of magic throughout the training sessions.
“The two full-backs in (Tylor) Golden and (Oliver) Bainbridge have had brilliant pre-seasons, Tarryn (Allarakhia) has been brilliant in his defensive play and Luca (Gunter), we can see his ability.
“We’re still not done yet but with what we have done so far, we are very happy.”
An unbeaten pre-season, including a noteworthy 1-0 triumph over Sky Bet Championship side Watford in their first match, displayed plenty of encouraging signs ahead of the league season.
Garrard cannot wait to get competitive action back underway.
“We are a side which buzzes off of an atmosphere and if our supporters come with the noise, we will give them something to shout about,” he explained.
“You want the real stuff to start and I am excited because I do genuinely believe in this group and I find complete comfort from them.
“They are brilliant to work with and I am excited to see them perform with a positive performance and positive result.”