Port Vale midfielder Manny Oyeleke says he's a feeling fitter and a lot more confident this pre-season after last years frustrating summer.
After signing from Aldershot last May, the midfielder missed a large chunk of the 2018/19 pre-season due to injury and it was a tough time for Manny.
It was very stop-start for the midfielder when he began life at Vale and injury was often an unfortunate reoccurring theme for the midfielder throughout last season, however, when did he play his positive influence on the teams' results was clear to see.
Now with three pre-season games under his belt and feeling the fittest he's been since he arrived at the club. Speaking after Vale's 2-1 win over Leek Town this afternoon, Manny's hoping he can continue building on the momentum.
"I'm feeling good, I'm feeling confident and it's a massive contrast to the last pre-season. Obviously, it was a really frustrating time for me last year due to injury.
"I could never really get going because I didn't complete a full pre-season. At the moment though I'm enjoying the fact that I'm playing a lot and my confidence is growing with the more minutes that I get.
"The past three games have been really good for us in terms of fitness and that's a massive positive for us. These types of games are perfect in terms of preparing us fitness wise for the season ahead.
The gaffer confirmed today that David Worrall and James Gibbons were given a few days extra rest after picking up minor injuries midweek which required injections.
One player who unfortunately needs further time to recover from an injury picked up at Kidsgrove is midfielder Cristian Montano, who faces up to three weeks on the sidelines.
Monty injured his hamstring in a challenge last Saturday in what Askey described as an "unfortunate" injury but one Manny says Montano will come back stronger from.
"Monty's my boy! He's a great guy and he's well liked around the club. I got to know Monty really well off the pitch in unfortunate circumstances as we were both injured.
"It was a tough time for both of us but we helped each other through it all. He's a key player for us and his pace is always a threat to the teams that we're playing.
"I'm sure that when Monty's back to full fitness he'll be raring to go and show everyone what we all know he's capable of.