Cobblers boss confirms trialists set to feature
Cobblers boss Aidy Boothroyd is looking forward to the first pre-season friendly, at Sileby Rangers on Saturday (kick off 3.00pm). He also confirmed that the three trialists who went to Croatia will also appear in the next two friendly matches, at Sileby on Saturday and Cogenhoe on Tuesday.
“I was really pleased with the week in Croatia and now we go from three training sessions a day to two," he said.
“It was really tough but I just think the first week of pre-season is so important.
“It’s not so much about the football it’s about getting your timing back and getting your body attuned to where you were before.
“The culture of football has completely changed due to a lot of sports science and I think players also know now that the margins are so fine and if you want to get that edge then you have got to be the best you can be.
“Lee Collins and Ben Tozer picked up some very slight fatigue but they are both fine now.
“We left Lee out of the practice match for that reason and Kelvin Langmead, Chris Hackett and Clive Platt are all making really good progress but they are not quite ready to play yet.
“I want to make sure that because we’ve got a small squad that all the players are fit, we pretty much did that last year until the last few weeks when it really counted.
“We’ve put a few things in place so we can get over that this year and hopefully we will have a bit more mobility and quality In the squad as well.
“All three trialists worked very hard in Croatia but I want to see them in a couple more games so that I am a hundred per cent sure if I’m going to take them.
“We’ve got Sileby and Cogenhoe in the next few days and I do want to start looking at combinations and how the players work together."