Ipswich fitness coach Andy Liddell has been praised by defender Tommy Smith for his work behind the scenes.
The former Barnsley, Sheffield United, Wigan, Oldham and Rotherham forward has been at Portman Road since joining ex-boss Paul Jewell’s backroom team in 2011.
Smith paid tribute to 40-year-old Liddell when he said: "In Andy we have a top man for the job and he knows how far to push people, especially in pre-season when the heat can take its toll on you.
"He always takes the conditions into consideration. We taper it down if it’s a hot day and then step it up when it’s not so warm. We’ve got a good man to see us through it.”
Liddell was also instrumental in providing the players with individual schedules to ensure their levels of fitness did not suffer during their summer breaks.
He added: "A lot of the work is done on a treadmill to get the legs and the lungs going again. As long as you stick to the plan everyone comes back fairly fit anyway.
"I think we’ve all come into the season fairly match-fit. Everyone has got their minutes in during pre-season and we’re all feeling sharp at the moment so I think we’re as sharp as we’ll ever be right now.
"It was tough in the heat at Reading on Saturday. The first half was warm but fortunately there was some cloud cover in the second and it was a bit cooler.
"We all came through it well and the gaffer mentioned to us that we ran six kilometres more than we did on the opening day of last season, so we’re looking fit and that can only be a good sign.”
On a personal note, New Zealand international Smith is benefiting from the fact that he had a longer-than-usual break from football before returning for pre-season training.
He said: "With the Olympics and World Cup it was a good two years since I’d had a proper break so I definitely recharged the batteries and had a proper pre-season, which I hadn’t had for a while. I’m feeling the benefit of that and hopefully I will stay fit and carry on.
"I have some international games coming up in September and October — there’s been talk of playing them in the Middle East — and then the World Cup play-offs are in November.”