Callum Elder believes City have laid strong foundations during their training camp in Spain after making his first appearance in the friendly clash with Leyton Orient.
The experienced left-back completed 45 minutes at Pinatar Arena, marking his first outing in City colours. Although disappointed with the result, Elder felt both the match and the week as a whole had provided valuable preparation ahead of the Sky Bet Championship campaign.
“It was my first minutes in quite a few months now, so I’m delighted to be out there with my new team-mates,” he said.
“Obviously we want to win every game, so we’re disappointed with the result, but I think we got a lot out of the game and from the week as a whole. We’ll get back to Lincoln and carry on our preparations for the season.”
The Imps have spent the past week training in demanding conditions in Murcia, with Elder praising the commitment shown by the squad throughout the camp.
“The conditions have obviously been tough out here, but the lads have shown unbelievable commitment and effort throughout the week,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of bonding and we’ve started to work on how we want to approach the season. There are a lot of positives to take from the week, we’ve got more minutes into the lads’ legs and now we’ll head back to Lincoln and keep working.”
The former Derby County defender believes the club is progressing on and off the pitch and says that made his decision to move to Lincolnshire this summer an easy one.
“You can see from the outside the progress the football club is making in every area,” he said.
“The training ground, the stadium and the fanbase are all buying into what the club is trying to achieve. It’s a really exciting time to become part of this football club. I didn’t have to think for very long about coming here.
“The togetherness of the group was a big factor. You could see that in the success they achieved last season. I wanted to join a group that’s committed and wants to test itself at the next level.”
Having featured in the Sky Bet Championship as recently as last season, Elder knows the challenge awaiting City but believes the squad has the mentality to compete.
“It’s relentless. There are no easy games,” he added.
“But if we show the commitment and togetherness this football club showed last season then we’ll be able to compete every week. The lads are hungry and we’ll be looking to attack the league as hard as we can.”