Mark Robinson today confirmed that Will Nightingale has made a timely return to full training and he will get his first pre-season minutes on Saturday.
The centre-back suffered an arm injury earlier this summer that prevented him from taking part in contact training, but now he’s raring to go with just nine days until the new season starts - and he will face League 2 side Scunthorpe United.
“Everyone is fit and we have Will back,” said Robbo. “He looked really sharp in training, so he’s really excited, and it’s great to have him back. The players that didn’t feature the other night will be getting 90 minutes. We have no injuries and everyone is raring to go.”
The match on Saturday will see the return to our club of Neil Cox, who played such a key part in earning our League One status, and Robbo believes that facing league opponents is exactly what we need at this stage of pre-season.
“I think it’s an ideal challenge for us on Saturday. Everyone looks at pre-season differently, but for me it’s fundamentally about fitness. For most of the teams we’ve played so far, it has been their cup final – they’ve really wanted to win.
“When you play against Premier League teams the challenge isn’t quite the same, they spend a lot of time on the ball. In the games we’ve played it has meant everything to the opposition, so it has given us a good challenge. I think the Scunthorpe game will be a really good end to that because it’s a week before their season. It will be great to have Neil Cox back, I spoke to him when we arranged the game, and he is looking forward to it.”