Day two of the Spanish pre-season trip to the Pinatar Arena has come to a close, and we caught up with Sam Hoskins to get his views on the week so far.
"We're all having a really good week so far. It's been tough because of the heat and the hard work that we're putting in but the main thing at the minute is getting the fitness and the game tonight would've also helped with that.
"Our schedule was slightly different to yesterday's because of the training game later on in the day. That meant we trained this morning and did some fitness work, some passing drills and went through some set-pieces and some plans for the game. We were then able to chill out in the afternoon and have some lunch before reporting for the game around 3.30pm as we kicked off at 5pm.
"On a personal note I'm feeling good and feeling fit. We all had our own individual plans over the summer to stick to so that we came back in top condition and we're all feeling the benefit of that now. To be fair, all of the lads have come back in really good shape, we've got a strong group forming and there's no-one that seems unfit or off the pace so hopefully we can push on and keep progressing steadily.
"In terms of the dressing room, it's key to have a mixture and a balance of young professionals and senior, more experienced players. We've got a really good blend here at the moment and I've been lucky to be involved in great dressing rooms before, here particularly, and with the group we've got at the moment we can certainly replicate those standards. There's a lot of players here that have tasted successful seasons before so hopefully we can produce something similar.
"I'm rooming with Jordan Turnbull, I've known him for years and I think if you ask anyone around here they'll say we're pretty inseparable! We get on really well, we bounce off each other really well and with the new lads and younger lads coming in we're all mixing together which is a key component to a successful team. You've got to have a good team spirit but also know when it's the right time to have a laugh and a joke and when you need to knuckle down and focus.
"The start of the season isn't too far off now, if you ask any player the focus is always on getting fit and focusing on being in the best shape possible for that first game of the season. You never lose the excitement of preparing for a new campaign but there's still plenty more hard work to be done first. We've got the rest of the week here before facing a few tough opponents over the next couple of weeks but that will help us develop our playing style, building relationships with each other across the pitch and making sure we're at the standards of where we want to be at.
"After the session this morning and the training game this afternoon we've been allowed some downtime in the morning as we won't be training until the evening. The plan now is to meet up with the lads and continue to spend time together and get to know each other better, have a bit of a rest and recovery morning tomorrow before putting in the hard work again later in the day."