Away from Home, But in the Zone

...their minds are on nothing other than rainy Devon and their upcoming Devon Expressway Derby on Saturday.

After a big month for the club, the Greens have journeyed abroad before their big Sky Bet League Two game against local rivals Exeter in order for the players to raise their fitness levels up in warmer climates. 

The warm weather training have given Derek and his team an escape from the dismal Devon weather and an opportunity for the new signings to integrate with the rest of the team

“It’s about taking the players away to train in a different environment,” said Derek, on Tuesday. “The new players can get to know the players that have been here before, and also work hard for the three days that we’re here. 

“It gives us a bit of time together - morning, noon and night - to start to build relationships, as well.

“We trained a double session yesterday and today. It’s going well; the players are enjoying it. It’s been good, so we can’t complain.”

Derek dismissed the thought that players’ minds would be on anything other than getting the right result on Saturday. Although they may have switched grey sky for blue, for the Greens football is, as ever, priority number one.

“They’re really in the zone," said Derek, "and they’ve got time to relax out of training, which is important. They can freshen their minds and their energy and get focused for the end of the season.

“We’ve got between eight and ten teams training around this area, and we’re going to watch Dynamo Kiev play against against Osijek from Croatia.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to watch other teams play, watch other teams train, and it gives us a better insight to teams' training methods.

“We’ve got the full use of two pitches, brand new built in 2016. There’s a Korean team training beside us and in the same hotel as us, so it’s good that we have other people around about us.”

The Greens' manager acknowledged the Grecians' recent run of good form, but was still keen to point out that Argyle are still in an excellent position in League Two.

“Like ourselves, they’re doing really well in the league,” Derek said, "but we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves. We come off a very good away win against Cambridge and we’re just looking to take that impetus into the next game.”