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Saturday 9 August 2003 - New Sportkring - kick off 4.00pm Friendly 
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| half-time: 0-0 | result: D0-0 | attendance: n/a |
| team: | Bryant, Coupe, Shore, Trought (c), Howarth, Rollo, Milton (Spring 85), Jefferies (Cleverley 45), Milsom (Bridges 65), Tweddle (Eaton 45), Williams (Salter 65). subs not used: none |
| man of the match: | Paul Milsom |
| scorers: | none |
| bookings: | Shore (53) |
| officials: | n/a |
| league position: n/a | form: LDWLLd | next match: Chelmsford (A) |
City’s mixed pre-season came to end in scorching hot weather in the unlikely surroundings of Torhout, a small Belgium town some 15 miles from Bruges. The game had been arranged by former City coach Tim Harris and formed the centrepiece of a three day trip for the team. With the exception of the injured Iain Harvey and unavailable Frankie Bennett the whole squad travelled to Belgium.
City’s starting line-up looked to be near their strongest XI, with Josh Jefferies replacing the absent Bennett and Paul Milsom partnering Steve Tweddle up front. The opposition, SK Torhout, were an unknown proposition but it was immediately clear they were a strong side that looked to get the ball down and pass it. This approach forced keeper Mark Bryant into a excellent stop after just three minutes, pushing a dipping long-range effort over the bar. From the resultant corner a header was cleared off the line by Mike Trought. Eight minutes later Trought was again involved in a line clearance but this time he was the unfortunate party seeing his header scrambled away. City were now starting to dominate possession without ever creating a clear cut chance. Jim Rollo and Jefferies both fired efforts over the bar and Tweddle had a shot deflected wide. A long range effort from Torhout on 35 minutes flew just wide and a minute later a neat pass by Milsom freed Tweddle but he could not get his shot on target.
The interval saw City replace Tweddle and Jefferies with Jason Eaton and Danny Cleverley, Milsom dropping back into midfield. Understandably the intense heat was affecting both sides and the game was being played a very leisurely pace. Chances were becoming few and far between now. A brief flurry of excitement saw Drew Shore become the first player to receive a yellow card early in the second half but it wasn’t until the 75th minute that an off-target shot by Eaton even came close to breaking the deadlock. So, the game slowly drifted to it’s inevitable conclusion and City could finally look forward to the real action beginning slightly nearer to home next week.