Town boss Kieran McKenna says improving the Blues’ set pieces is something which has been worked on a lot over the summer with Lee Evans’s goal against Bolton last week a reward for the hours put in on the training ground.

Evans turned Conor Chaplin’s corner from the right through a crowd of players and into the net to level the game against the Trotters at 1-1, the game’s eventual scoreline.

“It’s obviously a massive part of the game and something that we clearly have identified that we want to be more productive in this season than the club and the team was last season,” he said.

“It’s something that we’ve worked on a lot. Obviously there are a lot of different types of deliveries, a lot of different types of routines and it’s important to strategise for each game in the set-piece department as well as in the open play department. We’ll look at that game by game and look to do what’s appropriate for each game.”

McKenna says there’s no specific member of staff charged with set-piece routines: “We split roles across but everybody works across every area as well, so we have staff members assigned for attacking and defending but also as a coaching team we all make sure that we make sure we keep an eye and everybody has an input and opinion across set plays.

“I think it was a great effort by the coaching team last weekend, not just in our attacking but I thought from a defensive point of view our structure looked good and it’s important that we continue to be that when both attacking and defending set plays.”

McKenna is pleased to have goalscorer Evans available after the Welshman missed the end of last season with a knee injury.

“It's a big, big boost for us, not just Lee, but all the boys we missed at the back end of last season definitely did have an impact in that time,” he said.

“But he's been great and I have to say he's worked fantastically over pre-season. I think he's in the best physical condition that he thinks he's been in during his career, or certainly since his early twenties.

“He's worked very, very, very hard on his physical condition and looks fantastic from that point of view.

“And as a footballer and what he brings to the team, everyone can see what he brings to us, so I think that's only going to continue to grow and develop now as he gets sharper game by game.

“But I think he's a player in really good condition in a really good moment and looking forward to his season.

“Obviously, we have good competition in that area. Dominic [Ball], who is a massive addition for us there as well and we have the younger players behind that that are also pushing.

“So, we have good competition in midfield, three fantastic senior players in Samy [Morsy], Lee and Dominic, who we know can all be very dominant at this level. And also good competition and different dynamics from the younger players, from Rakeem [Harper] down to Cameron [Humphreys] and Idris [El Mizouni], who can also bring something to that position. So, we feel strong there.”

Photo: Matchday Images

HighgateBlue added 17:15 - Aug 4 It was very much needed, it's great to hear, and it's no surprise coming from such a promising coach.
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