NEW signings Craig Beattie and Shelton Martis will make their first appearance in Albion colours in Tuesday's pre-season opener at Histon (ko 7.45pm).

The Baggies will also don the new home kit for the clash at the newly-promoted Blue Square Premier outfit.

Tony Mowbray's men returned for pre-season training on Monday and their trip to the Glass World Stadium will kick-off an eight-game schedule in preparation for their Championship opener at Burnley on August 11.

"It will be the first opportunity to see Craig and Shelton in action," said the Hawthorns boss.

"They will both play some part in the game."

Tuesday's game will be the Baggies' only domestic friendly before they jet off to Slovenia and Croatia to tackle Hadjuk Split on Friday and Red Star Belgrade five days later (both ko tbc).

And Mowbray believes it will stand them in good stead for their Central European tour.

"We've been back in pre-season training for a week and Histon is the first chance for the players to find their legs," he added.

"It will get us up and running and it will be a good opening test for us.

"It fits in nicely before we fly off for a tough week of preparation and two tough games against European opposition."

Cambridgeshire outfit Histon were a village team just 15 years ago and were in the Eastern Counties League when manager Steve Fallon took the reins in 1999.

Despite the gap between the two teams in terms of league status, there is a strong family connection, with Histon's PR manager Graham Eales being the father of Albion's legal director/ secretary Darren.

Stutes chairman Gareth Baldwin added: "Now the fixtures are finally out there is a real buzz of anticipation regarding the challenging season ahead and our first really special friendly on Tuesday night.

"Tony and his assistant Mark Venus know our players Antonio Murray and Erkan Okay from their Hibernian and Ipswich days respectively, while off the pitch Graham and Darren are cementing a real affinity between our respective clubs."