BREWERS manager Nigel Clough has been pleased with performances this week as his side have beaten Kidsgrove Athletic and Mickleover Sports 5-0 and 4-0 respectively.
Clough said after last night’s victory at Mickleover: “They’ve been two very good workouts, we are still three weeks off the start of the season, it will be another tough three weeks. It’s funny how in both games we’ve mixed the teams up at half-time and gone into the second half at 0-0 and won convincingly and that’s because we’ve been wearing teams out.
"We don’t read too much into the results, it’s all about the fitness. It’s nice that we haven’t conceded any goals yet, it’s always a good sign. In these games you have good and frustrating moments, we will get sharper over the next three weeks."
“It’s a credit to the shape the players have come back in because it’s the first time in eighteen years of management that two weeks into pre-season we’ve had no sort of injury, that’s testament to the lads coming back in good shape."
Speaking about the youngsters who have been involved in pre-season Clough said: “It’s good to have the youngsters Marcus Harness, Marcus Dinanga, Joe Sbarra and Jayden Cotterill involved, if you fill your squad with say 20 players then it doesn’t allow the likes of them to get a feel of first-team matches.”
Clough also provided an update on injured pair Marvin Sordell and Jake Buxton who both still had injuries when they reported back for pre-season: “Marvin will train Monday and will hopefully take part on Tuesday night for a bit, Jake we think will be about a week and hopeful he could play some part at Matlock next Saturday.”