It was a first outing in a blue shirt for new arrival Dylan McGeouch on Tuesday night and he saw plenty of the ball as he took up a holding and playmaking role.
“He’s a comfortable footballer,” assistant gaffer Gav Skelton commented. “He wants to be on it all the time. He hasn’t trained loads this summer, other than his own stuff, but it was a good, tough session for him on Monday.
“He’ll be a bit stiff after his Tuesday work, with an intense 45 minutes on the pitch, but he’ll benefit from it. Anyone watching will have seen what a good, intelligent footballer he is.
“I don’t think you get to play for the clubs he’s played for if you aren’t a good footballer. I’m sure he’ll be a big asset for us.”
“With everyone getting 45 minutes it’s simply part of the build up we have scheduled,” he added. “The next stage of the match fitness is the work we’ll have to do against Danny Grainger’s team on Saturday.
“The following week we go up to Scotland and that’s where we really start ramping it up. It’ll be a very tough week up there and the games start building into that as well.
“The focus soon starts to settle on that first league game which possibly still feels like it’s still a way away but, as we know, it’ll actually soon be here.
“It’s non-stop but that’s what you expect from pre-season. It all flies by because you’re doing session after session and playing game after game, which is good.”
As to whether we could see more new arrivals this week, he said: “It’s ongoing. There’s nothing right now but, as we said on Friday, you think you’re close to something then it goes away.
“On the other side a couple of things seem to drag and all of a sudden they’re done. It changes on you constantly, everyone’s working hard on it, and hopefully some will come to fruition for us.”