Midfielder Chris Whelpdale give us his verdict on the Gills start to pre-season
The Gills rounded off their first week of pre-season with two comfortable friendly victories at Faversham Town and Ashford United. We caught up with midfielder Chris Whelpdale at Homelands to find out how he enjoyed the experience.Chris said, “It was all about getting minutes under our belts really. It’s the first 45 minutes for a couple of months and it’s about getting our legs used to it again and I thought it went well for us.
“I was good for the first 35, last ten I started to feel it a little bit in the legs. The lungs were alright but the legs just didn’t have that muscular fitness that they had last season but I’m sure I’ll get that.”
Pre-season training started last Wednesday with a programme designed to focus on the players flexibility and minimise the risk of injury but Whelps knows the hard work starts tomorrow.
He said, “Training’s been fairly light so far. I think the gaffer just wanted to get us in, see how we are and get a little base fitness in. I think we’re starting properly on Monday which I’m not really looking forward to.
“I look after myself, I’ve been away on holiday for a bit and relaxed a lot but at the same time you’ve got to watch what you eat and go out and keep your base fitness there. That’s what I’ve been doing and hopefully I can come back and do myself justice.
“I don’t mind it. I quite like this side of football. You put the hard graft in to pre-season and you feel the benefit throughout the season. Come the last ten minutes of a game that pre-season helps, so you put the work in and you get the benefits from it.”