Malvern Town co-manager, Dene Whittal-Williams, was delighted to be back overseeing training on Tuesday evening following the relaxing of certain restrictions as we continue on the roadmap out of the latest lockdown.
With a return to action coming up in April, the players were put through their paces with an upbeat 90-minute session to blow away the cobwebs.
“It was fantastic to see the lads back,” he said. “We had a really good turn-out and everyone got stuck in. There were lots of smiling faces and plenty of positivity around the place, which is exactly what we wanted to see. The lads looked good; they worked hard and were sharp. They have clearly been doing a lot of work on their own to keep themselves ticking over. In fact, we almost picked up from where we left off in December. Of course, there are things that we need to tighten up on and we won’t get too carried away, but it was a good first session back after over three months away. We’ve got a couple of friendly matches lined up to help get us game-ready as we look towards the FA Vase tie at Congleton Town on April 17th.”
“We had over 20 lads at training and each of them could stake a claim for a place in the team for the FA Vase game. It’s an opportunity now for each of them to show what they can do.”
“The latest lockdown has been pretty tough,” admitted player Lewis Platt following training. “It affects people in different ways but I am a positive person and getting back into training on Tuesday is a first step on the road to getting back to normal soon, which is great. It was good to be around the lads again and blow away the cobwebs in what was a productive session with a great atmosphere. I’ve been doing a bit of running and HIIT workouts to keep myself ticking over, it’s just the match sharpness that will take time but everyone is in the same boat.”
Platt pictured right continued “We’ve got a few friendly matches lined up and I can’t wait. It’s all about getting us ready for the FA Vase tie which will be a tough test for us.We’ll go into the game as underdogs again, as we did in the previous round, but I firmly believe that we have the mentality and talent here to cause another upset. Games like this are the ones that you will look back on when your playing days are over so to be part of a team that could make history for the club would be amazing.”
“The key thing now is to make sure we prepare properly so that we can give a good account of ourselves.”
