Town Boss Dave Flitcroft feels his new-look squad are making steady progress as pre-season continues to crank up a gear.
New recruit Harry Smith was on the scoresheet as the Reds were held to a 1-1 draw by Salisbury last night, and Flitcroft now wants his players to find another level with a week’s training camp in Portugal getting underway earlier today.
“They are taking on some of the ideas we are trying to bring into the football club, but we’re still managing that changeover from last season and evolve into the team we want to be,” he told members of the local media.
“We’ve still not got the players that I want in yet to challenge the group, but we’re working on that and it is slowly coming together.
“I’m just looking for individual things at the minute and some combinations and connections, so we’re trying a lot of things out and we’re having a look at a lot of different possibilities, different options and different partnerships.
“We’re getting into the games and it is giving us a lot of opportunities and we’re making slow progress.
“We go out to Portugal now which gives us an opportunity to get three sessions a day in so we can really up the physical aspect in terms of body and conditioning work, as well as the tactical work.
“You are almost getting two-weeks work into the players within a five or six-day period, so it has been okay up until this point but we really kick on now.
“Partnerships will be formed and friendships will be formed over there and togetherness comes out of hard work and total commitment.
“I’m really looking forward to the trip to see who might go all the way and who might not.”
Chris Hussey, Olly Lancashire and Conor Thomas all missed last night’s game and Flitcroft explained their absence.
“We’ve been looking at the game data and Chris Hussey, with the way he plays, his game data is where we want it to be,” he added.
“Olly played a full game against Oldham and got really tested against two very good strikers in Craig Davies and Aaron Holloway, so he’s done extra.
“Conor Thomas rolled his ankle in training so that is being assessed. We’ll have a look at that one.”
