Alan McCormack reflected on the 2-1 pre-season friendly defeat at Norwich City, which saw him play the entire second half as substitute.
“It was a disappointing game for us,” said Alan. “They played very well and you see the quality they have at Premier League level. We let ourselves down in different areas of the pitch, mainly in the last third when we got ourselves into those position,s we didn’t seem to keep hold of it well enough.”
The Irishman added that despite next week’s opening fixture at home to Ipswich Town, there was plenty of time to put the performance behind them.
“It’s still a work in progress for us,” said Alan. “I know it’s only a week away but we’ve still got five good days to work on things. I’m sure the players and the lads on the bench will be working very hard to make sure we get a result next week.”
Alan gave goalkeeper David Button special praise for his performance, making several excellent saves throughout the match to thwart the Norwich City forwards.
“Butts was brilliant today,” said Alan. “Sometimes in pre-season he doesn’t have a hell of a lot to do and he hasn’t played that much time as many of the other lads so it was nice to see him sharp and his reflexes back to his best and thankfully today he kept the scoreline down.”
The 31-year-old looked back on his personal pre-season, which has seen him play at both defensive flanks and in midfield.
“I’ve had good game time,” said Alan. “I got 90 minutes Tuesday night in the centre of the pitch so it was nice to get that workout. I’ve been training hard all week; I feel good, match fit, ready to go and I’m hoping come Saturday I’m in the starting team.”