City head coach, Mark Kennedy, has said despite anticipating a tough challenge against Derby County on Tuesday, the fixture is one in which his side are relishing the prospect of.
He said: “They are a big team and a big club who will bring huge support with them. They bought in some very experienced players during the summer and have some cracking young players too.
“They have a very talented squad with a lovely mix of youth and experience, and I think they have started quite well. They have an outstanding young manager who has a very good reputation within football as a coach, so I think it will be a really tough game but one in which we are very much looking forward too.”
Unexpectedly, City had additional time to prepare for the fixture due to the death of Her Majesty, The Queen Elizabeth II.
Kennedy admits this extra time has been used to tailor some specific work into his players.
He added: “We have maximised the time in our training load, it gave us an extra opportunity to get some specific work into the team and so we have tried to use that as best as we can.
“We had an in-house game, 11 versus 11, with match officials coming in. All the lads got kitted out to make sure we did it properly to make it feel as real as possible and it gives that extra professionalism and a realistic feel to what we were doing. In terms of the output from the lads, it was a very good exercise.”
Tickets for the fixture against Derby County are still available, and can be purchased online HERE.