Korey Smith is one of those involved in pre-season ahead of the upcoming campaign and the Bristol City midfielder is hoping to get a full schedule under his belt ahead of an injury-free season.
He told the Official Website: ‘I didn`t get a proper pre-season last year, so I`m just very happy to be back from the first day. Fingers crossed I can stay injury-free through pre-season and have a good year.’
An ankle injury played a major part in disrupting last season for Smith but he did manage to start the final 14 Championship games – during that time the Robins’ form improved with his help.
Now Smith is looking to take that form and confidence forward.
‘In the last few months of last season my ankle started feeling a lot better and I got my longest run of games, which was nice, and obviously we did really well as a team. That`s a big confidence builder coming into the new season.’
Smith has managed to get his first experience of what it’ll be like to be on the opposite end of some crunching challenges from Eros Pisano, signed from Verona.
Of Pisano he said: ‘Eros has been with us since the first day back, so it was really nice to meet him and he seems like a good guy. He looks like a tough player as well – he put in a couple of strong tackles!’
Along with his teammates, Smith hadn’t met club record signing Famara Diedhiou due to the forwards international commitments.
However, he knows of his reputation and with such a fee involved knows Diedhiou will prove an excellent signing, which shows a signal of Bristol City’s intent too.
‘We haven`t met Famara yet because of international duty but the club has shown real intent with his signing and I`m sure he`ll be a good addition for the new season. I haven`t seen him play much but he`s obviously been doing well in France to earn that fee, so that can only be a good thing for the rest of the boys.’
