FC Halifax Town was not able to match Port Vale on the score sheet, but Jordan Preston and the rest of the team put in a valiant performance to unfortunately losing 3-2 against the League 2 side.
Speaking to Shaymen TV, Preston was happy with how the home side performed. He believes itโs just the stepping stone that the side need to continue to build on what they have been working on so far.
โItโs another progression from where weโve been coming from and what weโve been doing in training and I think there were a lot of positives to take out of todayโs gameโ.
Pre-season is all about playing time and the former Gateshead attacker states that he feels he is nearly at full fitness and ready for Braintree on the 4th of August.
โI think Iโve had a 45, a 60 and a 75 (minutes). Iโm probably now just a 90-minute match away from being ready for the start of the seasonโ.
Preston says he is retaining that match sharpness and states he would love to get more goals as well as returning to full fitness.
โI think Iโm getting there fitness wise. Iโm getting that little bit sharper and starting to see more of the ball. I just want to maybe add a few more chances or maybe goals to my game, but yeah I feel like Iโm starting to get there nowโ.
In the interview, the 22-year-old admits that this pre-season training has been very tough under Jamie Fullarton and the rest of the management team.
โTraining has been tough. Iโd say itโs probably been the toughest pre-season Iโve ever had. Itโs been tough. But with the football, Iโve learnt a lot about myself and overall Iโve definitely benefited from itโ.
โItโs all hard, but itโs all beneficial. Weโve done a lot of hard runs, but we have done some running with the ball as well. A lot of it has been learning about football, while we are doing the running, so itโs been good in that aspectโ.
Speaking ahead of the Coalville Town game on Saturday Preston understands that it will be a difficult game for himself and the rest of the team as the Southern League Premier Central side will be a different test for The Shaymen.
โIt will be another tough game. They may be like Brighouse, and they were tough opponents for the first 50/60 minutes, but obviously, we had the fitness edge on them after that. So, I am expecting another tough gameโ.
Having played two Football League sides now, Preston told Shaymen TV that the variety of tests the team has had in these pre-season fixtures will help the side over the course of the season.
โWe gave really good accounts of ourselves against Bolton and Port Vale and for stages of the games, we have matched them. If we can match teams like that and there are going to be game out there which are a bit more nitty-gritty, like the Brighouse game. So, itโs just getting us ready for all things that are going to come at us next seasonโ.
Finally, Preston told us how well the side has gelled together and how the young squad Fullarton has put together just want to help each other be the best they can.
โItโs a good set of lads, everyone gets on well and we all settled in well together. I think weโre all just driving, we are a pretty young team and we all just want the same thing and thatโs to do as well as we can this yearโ.
Watch the full interview on Shaymen TV right now.
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