Last night, we spoke to defender Jack Ellis following our 2-0 defeat to Gateshead.
He began by saying: “It's obviously not good, we want to go into every game wanting to win and we haven't done that. I thought we had some good chances, especially in the first-half and even the second as well. I think that's the difference tonight, they put away some of their chances and we failed to do that.”
United pressed well early on, and the effort looked like it had the potential to pay off. We asked Jack if he felt the same, he explained: “Yeah, I think in the first-half we did it well and in the second-half we were probably a bit tired and couldn't quite cut them out.
"We knew before the game that's the type of football they wanted to play and they're obviously good at it. They won the FA Trophy last year so they're not a bad team.”
Ellis made the switch to the opposite side of defence during the second-half - slotting in at left-back.
“Yeah, it was alright. I'm happy to play anywhere really, so when I found out I was going to left-back it didn't really bother me.
"I just wanted to show that I was capable to play there and I enjoyed it.”
Jack was one of three players to play the whole 90 minutes on Tuesday night, alongside Luke Armstrong and Gabe Breeze.
After the game, he stated: “Obviously you can try and get as fit as you want in training but game fitness is the main one. It's nice to play 90 minutes tonight.”
Speaking on his road to recovery after picking up a small knock at the end of last season, he said:
“I'm just really excited. Fitness-wise, I felt good coming into the start of the season, which was good.
“I kept myself fit over the summer obviously with Butts (Dan Butterworth) and Jakey (Jake Simpson). So yeah, I feel good. Felt good tonight and just a couple more sessions and then on to next week for the big one.”
Providing further detail on pre-season, Jack added: "There's been some good ones, some bad ones. Like I say, I think the main thing is getting the game fitness in, the game sharpness in the legs. It's all going to benefit us in the long run.”
Finally, looking forward to Saturday's return to Brunton Park against Stockport County, Ellis said: “We've got the rest of this week in training so we're obviously going to continue to work hard.
"It's still pre-season at the end of the day, we're getting fitter every day, getting sharper and looking forward to the Stockport game.
“Just get yourself there. It's obviously going to be a tough game.
"They're a very good side but I think we're capable of winning the game. You want to go into every game wanting to win it and that's what we'll be doing against Stockport.”
