Manager Nick Daws is looking forward to a Glanford Park return this evening when his side takes on Championship outfit Nottingham Forest.
United returned to England from a tour in Austria late on Sunday night and were back in on Tuesday ahead of the fixture against Aitor Karanka’s men.
Speaking to iFollow Iron, he said: “It’s been incredibly hot. We’ve had a good session going into the game and we’re just generally keeping the pre-season programme going.
“I think we’ll be looking to get as many of the players 90 minutes as we can, depending on where they are. The aim is to get a full match into a good core of the group and then we’ll look to do the same on Saturday.
“For some of the boys, playing at Glanford Park is a new environment for them and it’s important that we get them some minutes on here before we play Walsall here on August 11th.”
In Nottingham Forest, the Iron welcome a side which finished 17th in the second tier of the last campaign, with Daws confident that the game will provide a difficult test for his side.
“I fully expect the game to be our toughest test so far, that’s why we’ve got the game,” he continued.
“We want to test ourselves. Ultimately, it is about the league season, but we want to see the areas we have been working on with the team are delivered on any game day.
“We don’t know how Forest are going to approach it, but we’re looking forward to Aitor bringing his team and putting up a really good test for us.”
In terms of injuries, only goalkeeper Matt Gilks remains a long term absentee, while Funso Ojo, Josh Morris and Duane Holmes are progressing well in their recoveries. Meanwhile, the United boss issued an update on Levi Sutton, who hobbled off in the game on Saturday.
“Funso has been back on the pitch doing the warm-up and the box work that we do, which is passive and non-contact. He’s progressing well, but I think it’d be a challenge for him to be ready for the start of the season.
“Duane and Josh had scans on Monday, both of which were relatively positive. The issues they’ve picked up are not long term, so we’re building them back up and hopefully will have them back in training next week if possible.
“Levi Sutton’s injury, picked up in the game on Saturday, is nowhere near as bad as we first feared. He’s been out on the pitch doing some light running, which is a good sign.”
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