A month off? Quite the opposite

Snow, ice and frozen pitches may have prevented FC United from playing competitive football for the last four weeks but the players have been training harder than ever according to assistant manager Roy Soule.

The squad have been undertaking extensive sessions twice a week for the past month indoors at the JJB Soccer Dome and Roy is very pleased with how things have been going. He said: "We’ve been training really hard, doing a lot of fitness and body work to keep the lads sharp and we are quite pleased with how they’ve all responded. Their attitudes seem to have gone to a new level over the last month or so."??

New boys Adriano Rigoglioso, Kyle Jacobs and William Jones have been settling in well despite not being able to make their debuts and Roy says it’s been easy for them. "I’ve known the new lads for some time and they’re not strangers to each other. Kyle knows a few of the lads such as Carlos (Roca) and Jerome (Wright) because he played with them at Oldham Athletic.

"I’ve known Adriano since he was a kid and he’s settling in well and so is Will, the goalkeeper. There’s an excellent team spirit within the squad so it’s not been a problem for any of them to settle in quickly."??

Roy added that there may also been a few more new faces before the end of the season: "Karl and I are always monitoring players, we have been out watching matches and talking to people we know in the game. I have kept an eye on players I have come across on previous scouting jobs I’ve had at other clubs such as Oldham and Huddersfield. There may be a couple more to follow up on depending on their availability."??

Despite being happy with the way training has been going, Roy admitted that it counts for nothing until FC United start getting results on the pitch beginning with Stocksbridge Park Steels next Saturday. He said: "You can do all the preparation you want but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

"We know that Stockbridge are a physical side and their pitch will be pretty heavy especially with the recent weather but we should be fitter than them and we should certainly be a lot more eager than them. The lads are really eager to get out there and start winning matches, they’ve trained hard enough now they need to do it for real."??