Sports therapist Dave Edge gives us a round-up of what the medical team have been up to during the close season

Defender Adam Yates is recovering well from an operation that he undertook immediately after the end of last season. Adam had been playing with a knee injury for the final few weeks of the season and went for a minor cartilage operation in May. He is now on his rehabilitation period and recovering well and should be OK for the start of pre-season training.

Another player working on an injury during the summer has been Stewart Drummond who missed a number of games towards the end of the last campaign with an ankle injury. Stewart's season ended when he picked up a knock against his former club Shrewsbury Town and the ankle has caused him some problems since then. We have been working with him over the summer though and although it has taken longer than we would have liked we are sure he will also be ready for pre-season.

Another player working hard over the summer has been Fraser McLachlan. After missing almost 95% of last season he is desperate to come back strongly this year and has been working on an individual fitness plan given to him by our conditioning coach Danny Birdsall.

All players have their own plans now and it is interesting to see how things have developed over the years. In the past a lot of players didn't do a thing pre-season but those days have gone and they are expected to return much fitter than they used to. Fitness is a major part in the game and there is no doubt that the lads now hit the ground running when report back.