Pond: New players learned the Fleetwood way in Austria

Pond and company spent a week at their Kossen base, juggling intense training with the task of integrating new players into the fold and also playing two matches.

A wild white-water rafting session had the whole squad and staff in stitches, showing that team bonding was definitely not an issue.

Town are now back home preparing for a triple test against Bolton (July 22), Tranmere (July 25) and Preston (July 28).

It is skipper Pond’s 14th pre-season at the club and he was pleased Town followed up their defeat by German club Karslruher with a last-gasp 2-1 win over Czech top-flight side Jablonec on Saturday.

Pond said: “It has been a good, productive week for the lads, with a lot of team bonding because there are a couple of new players here.

“We just got to know their personalities, how they play and what sort of movements they make on the pitch.

“Obviously (we want to) get the Fleetwood DNA into them and the way we play.

“In the first of the two games the lads looked quite tired. We had done a lot of training, and the result and the performance was not what we wanted but there were some positives in there.

“The result on Saturday was what we wanted and I thought it was a very strong performance.

“That was more like the Fleetwood Town of last season.

“Everyone is in a good mood now we won. Obviously it is pre-season, and tactics and other things are more important than the result, but everyone who goes out on that pitch wants to win the game.”

Pond says the staff mixed up the training during their alpine adventure, making for an enjoyable but tough week ahead of their return to Poolfoot Farm on Wednesday.

He added: “It has not just been the same thing all week. It has been very good.

“We have done endurance, speed and tactical sessions. We have done power sessions and it has been really enjoyable.”

Head coach Uwe Rosler was pleased to return to England without any serious injuries as Town build up to their opening League One game at home to Rotherham on August 5.

He said: “I’m just very happy that we came through that week with no major injuries.

“We got a lot of work done and on Saturday we had a top-class performance.

“The players are looking in really good shape and we finished a very good week with a very strong performance.”