Harrogate Town AFC

Watch the Gaffer's pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday night's fixture against Rotherham.
 


The Gaffer on how the new pitch will only benefit us…

We're very lucky that we've got Ian Bullock as our grounds man, he's prepared an immaculate pitch for us and one we're really looking forward to playing on throughout the season. We think we'll have a consistently very good pitch to play on and it's conducive for really good football

On the fitness of Will Smith and Ryan Fallowfield…

Will's OK, will probably be fine for the weekend. He just landed awkwardly on his backside, pretty similar to an injury for a dead leg but he's just got a dead backside. It impinges on his movement and that obviously stops him from playing.

Ryan jolted his leg in training about 10 days ago, we've had him scanned and there's nothing too severe. He's stepping up his rehab and running from today, so again he might also be OK for the weekend.

On new additions Nathan Sheron and Lewis Page…

Nathan is still a young lad at 23-years-old but has bagged quite a bit of experience at League One level and also been out on loan up in Scotland and also in League Two with Walsall.

He's a strong competitor, got a real will to win and a very versatile player who's really honest. He's got those old school values and I just love his conscientious style of play.

Its good to finally have a left-footed option at left-back. It's all about having a good squad of players and Lewis will add to that with his quality.

He's got a good level of experience in the Football League and is a mobile player with a bite in the tackle. We've got a constant theme of good edge about us across all areas of the pitch so it's really exciting.

On whether we'll be adding any more players before the transfer deadline…

We're having a look at a couple of trialists now. They did well at the weekend but we've got to make sure they're the right fit for us. The one position to fill is that player who can play on either wing.

On facing Rotherham…

It'll be a more senior side that's put out against us compared to Newcastle. Paul Warne and his staff have done an amazing job at Rotherham and it's something that we want to aspire to, to reach for those higher levels.

They've done it in a way where they play attractive football and have been honest throughout the club so we're expecting – no disrespect to the team we played the other day but it was quite youthful – a strong Rotherham team and it'll be a tough test for sure.

On stepping up pre-season work…

We're still at a stage where we're upping it from 60 minutes, to 70 and 80 for certain people. Once we're in that process we also want to smooth out things that we can improve on.

Gradually bit by bit, on the opening day of the season we want to be at a stage where we can break through 90 minutes with no problem, play our way in our system and be in full understanding of everybody's strength within that.

Then we can go out without too much in our heads, a real clarity and purpose and go full out. It's the middle of pre-season now and so far so good, we're stepping it up.

#ProudToBeTown