United full back Jordan Clarke believes he and his teammates are well on track to be at peak fitness for when the season starts on August 6.
A superb display and result against Rotherham United on Saturday has done wonders to lift the spirits following the previous two defeats, and will leave the Iron in good stead for this Saturday’s away match at Hartlepool United.Clarke reflected once more on the trip to Austria, and the benefits that the training out there has already had on the team.
“We’ve had a couple of games since then and training has been good,” he told The Iron PlayerHD.
“We have played good opposition in Hull, and we gave a good account of ourselves. The scoreline wasn’t great but they are a Premier League side, and we just wanted to test where we were at.
“We went into the game with Rotherham, who are a Championship team, and we ended up beating them 2-1, which was great. I came on for the last 30 minutes and I felt I did well.”
The 2-0 defeat to Hull may have been fair in terms of the periods of the game where the Tigers dominated the possession but on another day the chances that came United’s way could have seen a different score line altogether, Clarke believes.
He said: “Especially in the first half I thought it was a very even game. Obviously we had to defend for a couple of long periods, but other than that I thought we created a couple of good chances and we could have, maybe should of, scored at least one in the first half.
“In the second half we started brightly, but then they started to dominate the possession and they got their second.
“Duane got another chance late on. It just wasn’t meant to be, but we can count ourselves unlucky.”
Clarke believes the team are very close now to reaching the fitness needed to start the season. With plenty of league and cup games coming up as soon as it does start, it could prove to be pivotal.
See much more from Jordan Clarke and Josh Morris on The Iron PlayerHD.
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