Skipper on the second pre-season friendly
Nathan Pond is looking forward to facing some old Fleetwood Town team-mates when the Cod Army visit Salford City for their second pre-season friendly on Saturday afternoon.The Club captain featured in Town’s defeat to Liverpool at Highbury on Wednesday evening, and spoke to FTFC’s official website about pre-season so far, and the prospect of coming up against familiar faces when Steven Pressley’s side face the Ammies at Moor Lane.
Pond said: “It was a great workout for the lads, that is the level we need to get to really, obviously we have only been back in training three weeks, and that is our first competitive game, so that is when you find out what we need to work on more, and what we need to improve on, so it was a good workout.
“We usually play the lesser teams, then you finish with a strong team, but I think it is good this way around.
The 31-year-old is now focussed on Saturday’s trip to recently promoted Salford City, and he fully expects a tough outing against a National League North outfit that contain a few of his old Fleetwood team-mates from a spell that has spanned 13 years on the Fylde Coast.
Pond continued: “It will be a different challenge, but Salford are a good side, there are a few ex-team-mates playing there, with Richie Allen, Craig Dootson, so they have got quality in their team.
“They had a good Cup run last year, so they will be looking to turn us over, and they will be looking to catch the eye, so it will be a tough game for us.
“It will probably be similar to the other night, two 45 minutes, because obviously we are going on our pre-season tour the day after, so I don’t think anybody will be playing the full 90 minutes.
The fixture comes a day before Fleetwood fly out to Holland for a six day pre-season tour, and it is something Pond is looking forward to.
"I’m looking forward to it. It is always good to play foreign teams, see how they play, as it’s a totally different game to the English game."