Alty boss puts his squad through their paces (From Messenger Newspapers)

Alty boss puts his squad through their paces

11:36am Wednesday 27th June 2012 in Alty FC news

LEE Sinnott supervised his first pre-season training session on Tuesday night and admitted he can’t wait for the real thing after running the rule over two of his four summer signings.

While Carl Rodgers and Danny Mitchley were missing, due to pre-arranged holidays, 28-year old centre-back Danny Hall and 21-year old striker Ryan Brooke joined the rest of the Alty squad for a lively first work-out, ahead of their opening friendly at Abbey Hey a week on Saturday.

More transfer activity seems certain before the 2012-13 Blue Square Bet North campaign kicks off, but Sinnott is already heartened by the balance that has been struck between youth and experience.

“You don’t go at it hammer and tongs in your first session back, but we got through some decent work,” said the Alty manager. “The lads aren’t match fit, needless to say, after two months off, but the overall level of fitness was pleasing.

“We made early progress, in terms of shaping the squad for next season, and it was good to see Danny and Ryan going through their paces with the rest of the lads.

“Danny and Carl Rodgers will bring us similar qualities in many ways. Both are in their late 20s, both have played in this division and at a higher level, and both should give us the sort of experience and know-how you need.

“At the other end of the spectrum, we’ve got two young lads, in Ryan and Danny, who will complement the forwards already here and bring something fresh to the squad. You need experience, but I like the idea of working with exciting young lads like these two. I’m looking forward to it and seeing what we can achieve together over the course of the season.

“We are still looking at bringing in three or four more new faces, and we plan to speak to one player at the end of this week. It is a very competitive business, trying to secure the players you want, but we are working at it.”

Damian Reeves’ future has yet to be resolved, but Sinnott added: “You can bet your bottom dollar he will sign for someone. He was great for us, but his contract ran out and we couldn’t persuade him to sign another, hard though we tried. Good luck to him, but our main concern now is replacing his goals with the players here.”