Elgin City will be fit and raring to go when training resumes for the Borough Briggs club next week, says manager Gavin Price.
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GAVIN Price expects his Elgin City squad to be in good shape when the club resumes training after the long lockdown period next week.
The manager’s north-based contingent, who form the majority of City’s pool for the coming campaign, begin their first session next Thursday.
A double session awaits the full squad in Elgin on Saturday, and Price plans to put his men through their paces to prove they have been looking after themselves over the summer.
“Firstly, we will make sure we get all the ground rules out and ensure they are all safe and we are doing things the right way,” Price said.
“For the number we have at training, we won’t need to change anything significantly from what we’ve done previously.
“During lockdown the players have been really busy and the good thing with modern technology is that you can track exactly what they are doing.
“I’ve been quite specific over the last six weeks to give them a programme of what they need to do. I do this every year, but we’ve had to put a bit more effort into it this year and been a wee bit more strict than before because we are coming back in September and it only gives us five weeks until the games start.
“So it’s important that they’ve got this base fitness when they come up and from some of the stuff they are doing and the times they are recording, the speeds they are running at, I’m pretty confident they will come back with really good levels of fitness.
“We will do a fitness test on the first day to make sure nobody has been giving it (Strava fitness logging app) to their athletic mate.
“The good thing is they are a good group, they know how I work and what I expect of them.
“You have got them up for limited sessions with the north-south divide, so it’s really important that we work with the football as soon as we possibly can and that’s what we will do.”
City will have winger Sean Linden, released by Aberdeen over the summer, and former Hibs, Livingston and Forfar striker Josh Peters on trial during pre-season.
Read story here: Winger and striker on trial at Elgin
The Black and Whites have also reached an loan agreement with Formartine United for next term, with the player still to agree on another temporary switch to Elgin, where he was farmed out for a spell last season.
Price is frustrated by the Betfred Cup group stages schedule which has given his team just two matches before the League Two start.
City are the odd team out when the competition gets under way on October 6. They begin with a home clash against Stirling the following Saturday then visit Montrose in midweek, before waiting a month to host Ross County, along with an away trip to Arbroath in November.
“I was disappointed we didn’t get the three games before the league start because it normally sets us up nicely,” said Price.
