Graham Kavanagh on the Dumbarton pre-season friendly
Manager Graham Kavanagh spoke to us ahead of the pre-season friendly at Dumbarton this evening.
“This is another one we’re looking forward to as we come into the final stages of pre-season,” he said. “It’s one where we had the opportunity to play on the Friday, Saturday or Sunday and I felt, with the schedule we’ve had, the Friday night was the best option.
“That means I can get to watch Luton or Derby on Saturday and I was mindful that the lads haven’t had any time off during pre-season. The staff can get to watch other games for me and it gives us an extra two days of quality preparation.
“The lads will be in on the Saturday morning for a short jogging session but they’ll get Sunday off and they’ll be refreshed for the final week of pre-season. We have the quick turnaround of Luton on the Saturday and Derby on the Monday the week after that, so the demands start on the lads right away.
“It is what it is and it’s up to us to make sure everyone is fresh and ready for both of those games.”
As to what he’s looking for from this week, he said: “I think, with nine new players, we need to show a quicker understanding in game time. Over the next two games I’m going to be looking at cementing two shapes I think will suit us.
“The personnel within those shapes will need to have an understanding of what they are required to do because we have got to hit the ground running.”
“I think what I’ve seen from the last few games is that we want to play football all the time and, if we’re being honest, we can’t really afford to have that mindset. We need to be more understanding of the league we are going to enter.
“Teams in League Two are going to play more direct and they will ask questions of you by doing that. We’re going to have to be able to mix it. It definitely can’t be taking us 45 minutes in each game to get used to it.”
And on who will be available, he said: “We’ve a few slots to finalise but it’s another chance for players to show us they are ready. Alex Marrow had an abscess in his mouth, so he missed on Saturday, but hopefully he will be back. Gary Dicker has missed a few weeks as well so I know he is chomping at the bit.
“Whoever plays, I want to see them all do the right thing and make sure we build up the right type of momentum as we go into August.”
