Midfielder Danny Devine has built up his pitch time through what has been a busy and condensed pre-season run of fixtures and, following another 90 minutes at Sunderland on Tuesday afternoon, he spoke to us about the confidence that’s growing within the group.
“Both on and off the pitch there’s a good team chemistry,” he told us. “Hopefully when the season kicks off we’ll be able to show that on the pitch.
“It’s just around the corner now. All the boys are raring to go and hopefully we can hit the ground running.”
And on his own run of games, he commented: “I’ve got a lot of minutes under my belt so far and I feel I’ve done ok. Hopefully when the season starts next week that will continue.
“I’ve played a few 90 minutes now and that’s what you want to be doing as you get towards the start of the season. I feel like I’ve settled in very nicely, we’ve got a good group of lads here, I get on with everyone and me knowing a few of them has helped with that as well.”
The meeting with the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light was a very tight affair, with the hosts gaining the advantage when 10 sets of fresh legs entered the fray with just over an hour played.
“I felt for the first 60 minutes we were well in the game,” he said. “I thought we competed well and could have maybe got a few more goals.
“When they brought the fresh legs on they seemed to get the upper hand. When you play teams like this they’ve got the money and they’re obviously a massive club, they’ve got the players to bring on whenever they want.
“It’s something you’ve just got to deal with. We’ll have that a few times this year when bigger clubs in the league bring on bigger names, and stuff like that.
“They’re the teams you want to be playing against. We’re not going to play teams of this calibre in League Two. If you can compete against them and do well, as we did, it only puts you in good stead for when the season comes around.”
On his own form, he said: “I’m feeling good. Like I say, I’ve played a few full games and that’s what you want to gear up to.
“I’ve settled quickly and I think it’s been fairly straightforward. All the lads are nice enough both on the pitch and off, everyone gets on, everyone has a good laugh.
“It’s a new challenge I’m looking forward to. I feel like I can prove a lot of people wrong from how my time at Bradford ended. Hopefully when the season starts I can do that.
“The gaffer’s shown faith in bringing me here as well. I’d like to put in some good performances, help the team and repay that.
“The way we want to play is something I feel I’ll benefit from. It’s a young, hungry squad and we want to go out and prove what we can do in the league, and finish a lot higher than a lot of people think we might be able to.
“Every player at every club will say they want promotion and hopefully we can do that this year, but we’ll have to see where it goes.”
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