Manager looks forward to Torquay fixture
Grecians boss Paul Tisdale is looking forward to a pre-season derby fixture against Torquay United at St James Park, and the reality-check that that will bring.City have had an enjoyable pre-season so far, with impressive outings – albeit defeats – against Reading and Swansea City at St James Park, which bookended an historic trip to Brazil.
While those challenges have tested City in a number of ways, they haven’t necessarily teed up the same kind of test that the Grecians will have to encounter when the League 2 fixture begins.
And for that reason, Tis is happy that the squad will get a run-out against a club that was playing League 2 football last season.
“I hope that it will bring us a bit more reality to what will happen in the league in the next week or two,” said Tis. “It will give us a suitable level of competition and challenge – it’s as good a fixture as we can get really.
“Let’s be honest – we haven’t played too many fixtures which have given a similarity to League football. We have had a fantastic pre-season with Reading and Swansea coming to us and the Brazilian games, but they haven’t really offered the same type of challenge that we’ll expect next week so I’m pleased that this fixture will bring us into some kind of reality.”
The preparation for the season over the past fortnight has been different to the norm, with the Brazil experience contributing to a lot more miles endured for the team than in any normal pre-season preparations.
But according to Paul, that was all compensated for in the pre-season planning and should leave them on course to being ready to kick-off the campaign with vigour against Portsmouth at the Park on the opening weekend.
He continued: “It’s been an odd week, with the travel we’ve had, missing sleep and jetlag – it’s not been a normal week. That’s why we put in a six-week plan rather than a five-week plan.
“It’s a week where we’re having to adjust again, so energy levels are probably down at the moment as everyone is very tired and have had to endure a lot of travel and time away from home.
“But we had a seriously good base of fitness going into the Brazil trip, so we’re not too far away from being ready for Pompey.”
One omission against Torquay – and Portsmouth for that matter – will be Jordan Moore-Taylor.
The centre-half was an early withdrawal in game against Tupi recently, and a scan revealed a fracture that will keep the youngster out of action for the immediate future.
“Jordan Moore-Taylor is going to be out for a number of weeks – he has a stress-fracture of his fifth metatarsal, so he’ll be out for a period of time. We don’t know yet how long – he’ll have a specialist report on Wednesday.
“It’s a bit of a blow because he was one of maybe half a dozen players that were definites to start the season in a shirt. He had earned his place in the team so that’s a shame.”