David Lucas has hailed Fleetwood Town's pre-season trip to Obertraun as a success. Lucas, 35, joined the club in January as a goalkeeping coach whilst retaining his player registration. The former Preston North End and Swindon Town man has said it is a much different experience to be a coach rather than a player. “To see how training goes from the perspective of a coach is much different to the view of a player. You are able to really take onboard the surroundings, the training conditions and how isolated this little town is.”
Lucas made two appearances for the Cod Army last year and has insisted it is important to manage both his roles as a coach and a player. “It is important to find a balance really. I am obviously working the lads so they are at the standard which is required and expected during pre-season. At the moment I have got a good balance between coaching them and getting myself fit and if needed I can increase my individual training.”
Town took on a much more challenging opposition on Friday when they played on German outfit SV Wacker Burghausen and David felt he and the team were more than ready for the challenge. He explained: “To be fair to Bad Ischl, we played them just one day after their pre-season programme began so they were very rusty and also only a local village team. We did play well against them and Burghausen gave use a good test. I feel it was important to determine where we are instead of thinking we are better than what we actually are. The result is immaterial. It’s the pitch time against a fairly decent opposition that was key.”
Town return to the north-west on Saturday and continue training at Fylde RFC on Monday.