Head coach Leon Pryce was delighted to get back into it this week as Workington Town kicked off their preparations for the new League One season.

The squad completed their first training session of preseason at Netherhall School in Maryport on Tuesday night and Pryce was happy with what he saw.

He said: “I’ve given them six weeks off the lads now and we’ve got a few new faces, a few local lads, a few amateur lads and they trained really well.

“The numbers will pick up now and we’ll be getting back into it.

“It’s probably going to be a lot easier for me this year because I know everyone, it’s my second year in coaching, we all know what’s expected.

"The standards are already going to be high because the guys know what to expect from me and I know what to expect from them.

“To say that was the first session in six weeks, it was good, but we’ll go harder and we’ll get better and better as the weeks go on.

“I’ve missed training, it’s the first time I’ve been looking forward to coming back training.

“I’ve had a week’s holiday and then I had a week at home and then I was ready to get back into it.

“I think everybody’s the same, you just want to be back around the lads and everybody’s glad to be back into it.

“After a couple of weeks you’re getting ready to go.

“I just think for the boys I want to see them take care of their bodies and try to get into some good shape because if we do so we won’t be far off this year and we’ve got some good additions to come.

“Try to keep that positivity from last year and bring that into next year and really go forward.”

Reflecting on last season there was no disappointment from Pryce at the failure to gain promotion and he believes they improved and developed consistency over the course of the campaign.

“I think from where we came from, from the start of the season to the end we came a long way," he said.

“We improved halfway through the season dramatically, got very consistent and I think we went on a streak of winning about 10 games.

“I was really pleased.

“The fans picked up in numbers and by the end of the year we had a really good away support, picked up some big scalps in Bradford Bulls twice and beating Doncaster away in the semi-final.

“Overall I think the whole club and town were happy with the way that it went.

“We got a really good following again and we had 12 or 13 fit players and they all gave their all, absolutely everything they had and that’s all you can ask for."