Matty Etherington men’s have had almost a full week to prepare for their clash against Salford City taking place at the JobServe Community Stadium tonight (KO 7:45pm).
This has been something that the Head Coach has seen as beneficial, saying: “[We’ve done] more work on the grass and we’ve not had many of these weeks. Obviously, last week was one, but it was the first time in a while where you can get some real work into the players.
“It's been another good week. There was some meetings early part of the week which were good, productive and we’re ready for Friday night.”
Matty will also be glad to see some more players returning from injury, hopefully giving him some selection headaches.
“It’s a boost for everybody”, Matty said. “I think that you can see that in training with the likes of Ellis [Iandolo] getting his minutes last weekend, a real boost for everybody.
“And now we have Connor Hall, Tom Dallison, Al-Amin coming back into training, coming back into our thoughts for Friday night. The squad is starting to look a lot healthier.”
Despite recent results, the Head Coach reiterated there is still plenty of belief in the squad, although everyone is fully aware it’s what’s happening in both boxes that has cost the U’s too many times.
“And that was definitely the case against Wrexham last weekend, and it has been the case, as you mentioned, for a good few weeks now”, Matty said.
“So it’s something we need to rectify it, it’s something that we've spoken about and the players are chomping at the bit. I've got to be honest, the training the last two days has been very, very good and they're ready to go.”
Lastly, Matty spoke about the preparation for a very busy festive period with the U’s playing four games in the space of ten days.
“Now the prep is done for Salford tonight, I think we need to start looking at MK Dons because it's a quick turnaround”, Matty explained.
“Then you've got Wimbledon, obviously Gillingham etc. so you need to do your work plenty of time in advance whilst still obviously focusing on the game tonight.
“But I'm talking in terms of the prep that's all done now and yes, the games come thick and fast, so it's a busy time for everybody.
“The players will be getting their work in as well, Saturday morning, Christmas Day, preparing in the right way, so yeah a busy week or two.”
You can watch Matty’s interview in full at the top of the page.
Tickets for the clash are still available, click HERE to get yours.
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