How has pre-season training gone?
Pre-season training has gone really well. There have been plenty of sessions and a lot of the focus has been on trying to get the squad as fit as possible ready for the pre-season games. The boot camp session down the sea front was a shock to the system. I don’t think anyone was prepared for what Lakey had in store for us. I could hardly pick the back pack up let alone run with it up stairs and hills. But everyone put in 100% and that has been evident throughout pre-season so far. It’s a big squad that we have at the moment, with a mixture of senior players and young players who have come up from the reserves or from other clubs and I think that’s good because it keeps everyone on their toes. But all the lads, old and new are getting on really well.

How has this differed from other seasons?
Well I wasn’t at the club at the start of last season so I can’t really comment on how their pre-season went but I think it’s clear that last season was not a good experience for anyone. There were a lot of disturbances last season, with new players coming in and out all the time as well as new managers. So I think Trenks is trying to avoid that this season. He could have brought in a whole new squad of players, and to be honest I thought he might have done that. But Trenks, Gary and James have kept faith in us and added to the squad sensibly, where gaps have been left by the likes of Carlisle, Skelts and Julian. There seems to be a good banter flying around in training and in the changing room, which is important in any team!

When you saw the Concord lineup what were your thoughts?
I don’t think any of us paid much attention to what team concord were going to put out. We knew it was going to be a tough game. There were a few well known faces that we recognized floating around the changing rooms and they were always going to have some very good players, but after the performance everyone put in against a strong Southend United side we knew we were more than capable of giving them a good game and causing them a few problems.

How did you think Rovers performed in the first half?
The game was very fast paced straight from the off and I think we started off a bit slow for the first 15 minutes. We were a bit nervous on the ball and didn’t really keep it for as long as we would have liked. The gaffer wasn’t happy before the game because after the warm up, half the team stayed out to ping a few balls, which didn’t leave him long to give the team talk. So I guess that might have been a factor. After that initial 15 minutes I think we started to move the ball a lot better and kept the ball for longer periods. Jake and Holmsey had a lot of space out wide, which allowed us to play out from the back a lot more, something we didn’t really do last season. Concord did have a lot of the possession but I think we created the better chances. Nashy came close with a good strike that hit the bar, Mike Trenks nearly got in at the back post and I think I could have had a pop at goal instead of passing it. Overall there were a lot of positives to take from the 1st half.

We conceded, but did that affect how the team played?
It was a sloppy goal to concede. I think we could have dealt with the cross a lot better and closed the ball down quicker so he didn’t have so much time to pick his spot but it was a good finish. As a team we haven’t really had the chance to focus on attacking and defending in training because the main focus has been fitness, but I’m sure that will come. I don’t think the goal affected how we played at all. We continued to try and play out from the back and we tried to keep our passing short and sharp instead of long ball all the time. It is clear that Trenks, Gary and James want us to play the football on the floor this season and I think we look a much better team when we do that. Obviously that may not be possible in every game we play this season, especially with some of the grounds we will have the pleasure of visiting, but we will give it a good go.

It was a 1-0 defeat against a Concord first team, and another close pre-season game. Do you think the team will take anything away from this game?
I think there is a lot we can take away from both games we have played. Yes we have lost both, but we have played two very good sides. These 2 games were more about working hard as a team and getting match fit as we knew we would be chasing the ball quite a bit. But at the same time I think we might have shocked a few people with the way we have played. The next few games are a bit different because they will be against teams that we expect to beat and we should have a lot of the ball. They will be tough away games but I think if we can keep playing this style of football and continue to work hard for each other then it will stand us in good stead for the start of the season.