ROVERS boss Graeme Souness today warned his squad they face their toughest test yet when they take on VFC Plauen at the Vogtlandstadion tonight.

The men from Ewood will complete a punishing schedule of three games in five days against the Oberliga outfit in what used to be the East Germany. And he has stressed his side will need to move up another gear again if they want to end the tour on a high note following a win and a draw from their opening two games.

"This is going to be the hardest game of all, I don't think there's much question about that," said Souness.

"I believe Preston lost 5-1 to a team of a similar standing when they were over here recently so I'm expecting a harder game than the one we had on Wednesday.

"But, though I don't expect to get beat off them, I can't stress the point enough that it's not about results. It's about us working hard to get fit for that first game in the Premier League.

"All I would hope for, however, is that the pitch will be a wee bit better than it was on Wednesday.

"I'm not blaming that as the reason for why we only drew with Crailsheim but no player likes to play on a surface like that where the grass is too long and you can't keep the ball moving."

After the spectacular scenery of Abtenau in Austria on Monday, tonight's trip is likely to provide a complete contrast again for Rovers' well-travelled squad.

Plauen itself is thought to be quite deprived having been part of East Germany and when the borders came down a decade ago.

Many of its people bailed out and relocated in the more affluent western city of Hof.

Consequently, the outskirts are said to be run-down -- a far cry from the idyllic 'Sound of Music' setting that greeted Rovers in Austria.

The City's football team is therefore seen as an important pillar of the community and club officials are hoping for a gate in excess of 4,000. Managed by former FC Locomotive player Rene Muller, the team play in the Oberliga, which is effectively Germany's fourth division.

And in people like former Steaua Bucharest striker Nicolae Popa, they do boast players with a certain amount of pedigree.

With their season due to start next weekend, they are also likely to be considerably fitter than Rovers at this stage of the summer.

Souness, however, is happy with the strides his own squad have made in terms of fitness over the last 10 days.

Hidden away in a tiny village called Illschwang, around 40 kilometres east of Nuremberg, Souness has been putting his players through a punishing schedule which involves training twice a day.

The base itself is so remote it doesn't feature on many maps -- as I can testing -- purposely away from any outside distractions.

"Let's put it this way, we haven't seen many people knocking about over the last week and there isn't much to do because the place is so remote," said midfielder David Dunn.

"But then I suppose that's what the manager wants.

"It is pre-season and he doesn't really want us doing anything else other than focusing totally on getting ready for the new season, which is how it should be.

"So we've just been watching DVDs whenever we've not been training and, by the end of this trip, we'll all be Barry Normans.

"Having said that, it seems to be doing the trick because I'm starting to feel a lot fitter although it's still going to take a few weeks yet before we're all at the level the manager wants us."