General manager of football operations Lee O’Neill is delighted with how the first month of the season went but isn't getting carried away at this early stage.

Town topped the League One table at the end of August having taken a club record 14 points from the first month, although they dropped back to third at the weekend with their game against Rochdale postponed due to international call-ups.

“Yes, I’m pleased, people have asked this quite a lot recently,” O’Neill said when asked about the successful opening month. “Definitely not getting carried away at all. We’ve got a lot of games of football ahead of us.

“I thought we went about the window and did the best we possibly could with what we had. I think the squad is in a good place and obviously we’ve got some injuries coming back, which is going to be good for us and I think off the back of pre-season and the games and the tour, it’s been a pleasing start.

“But we’re not taking our eye off the ball at all, we know it’s going to be a long season and there are a lot of games ahead of us.”

He knows expectations are high with the Blues’ squad widely viewed as one of the best or the best in the division.

“I hope so, very much so,” he added. “I was asked that question, ‘What was our expectation?’ and we want to be up there in the top six competing.

“We’ve invested a lot of time and effort, Marcus has invested a lot financially in the squad to try and make that happen and so far so good.

“But, like I said and the manager’s said, we’ve got a lot of young players, you hope they gel really quickly, that can take a little bit of time, and it has gelled but anything can happen in football.”

Photo: TWTD

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