We caught up with winger Jamie Devitt at the club Open Day on Sunday afternoon to get his thoughts on the pre-season training package so far.
Speaking first about the weekend event, he said: “It’s always enjoyable and brilliant to see all the looks on the kids’ faces when they come to see us. They don’t get to see us all the time so it’s nice to see how they react when you’re signing the pictures and things like that.
“Looking around there are so many people here and the little ones get the chance to play a bit of football with us as well. It puts a smile on our faces because we all enjoy doing this kind of thing.”
And another enjoyable aspect from the weekend was the return to action at the first pre-season friendly against Carlisle City on Saturday.
“It was really good to get some minutes under my belt,” he commented. “The main thing is that we all did that and there were no injuries. It’s now about building up the pitch time and getting ready for the first game of the season.
“Those who were there will have seen that we played the game at a real tempo. In the dressing room before the game one of the things we said was that it all starts here.
“I think that showed because we did things properly and we approached it in the right way. We’ll be looking to do the same at Penrith and Workington on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Another thing we were talking about the other day was the competition for places. We’re fighting for however many starting positions, depending on the formation, and I think we’re enjoying the intensity that brings.
“That’s why I don’t think you can look at these games as being friendlies. Every one of us is trying to show the manager what we can do and we all want to stake a claim for the first game of the season.”
An area the United winger has targeted for personal improvement this season is adding goals to his armoury and he confirmed again that he’s putting high demands on himself this time round.
“I’ve been going over my performances from last season all summer and there are a number of little things I want to get better at,” he told us. “My main thing this year is to put goals into my game. Along with that comes assists, because I need to be doing one or the other.
“In all honesty I don’t feel I had a good season last season on a personal level so I want to kick on now. Last year has been and gone and it’s about looking forward. It’s time to get on with it.
“It’s the same with the Exeter game. I think we’ve all sat down and watched it again and it is frustrating to see how it went. What we have to do is use that frustration to make sure we do the things we didn’t do well enough last season properly this time round. It’s all about making sure lessons were learned.”