Attacking midfielder Cleveland Taylor is feeling ready and raring to go thanks to a demanding pre-season regime that has dusted off the cobwebs and raised the fitness levels right across the squad.

He told us today: "I'm trying to get involved more at the moment, as you saw on Tuesday night, and I'm enjoying myself quite a bit. I'm a lot fitter than I was last season, so that's a good thing. We've all worked hard over pre-season though, and the whole team is ready now. The manager tells us that the harder we work, the fitter we'll be, and we've all put plenty in to get our fitness levels right up there. I think that's starting to show for us out on the pitch."

"I also want to be getting on the scoresheet, if I possibly can," he added. "I've had a few efforts recently, including that one on Tuesday that was cleared off the line, and hopefully they'll start going in. However, my job is to provide a bit of thought and to add something different when we go forward. I'd definitely like to score a few for the team, though, and I'll be trying to do that if the chances come along."

"The boss has been rotating the squad around in pre-season," he said, "and that has helped us all to get match fitness. It's good to get an hour, or to play 90 minutes, but you have to accept that these games have to benefit as many people as possible. At the end of the day we all want to be playing as much as we can, whenever we can."

"We're all looking forward to the Bristol Rovers game," he told us, "but we are also aware that it is only the first game of many. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and it's the whole ten months that are important. Mind you, it would be great to get off to a good start, and we'll certainly be trying to make sure that happens."