Andrews Stepping Things Up

Midfielder predicting Wanderers' pre-season preparations will continue to go from strength-to-strength

Keith Andrews says Wanderers' pre-season tour of Scotland served its purpose and the side are now once again ready to step things up when preparations for the new season continue against Crewe Alexandra this weekend.

North of the border Bolton recorded two 1-1 draws against Ayr United and Falkirk, whilst suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Hamilton Academical.

And although the results haven't quite gone Bolton's way, the Republic of Ireland international knows that fitness and team bonding are just as important at this stage of pre-season.

He said: "I've had enough pre-seasons to know that it can work both ways. You can win all your pre-season games and lose the first league game.

"The good thing is that we are creating chances. It would be a different story if we weren't getting in the right positions.

"We've had three good workouts in the space of seven or eight days, some tough training sessions and some good time to get to know each other - it's been a very good week."

Despite having only spent two weeks with the squad following his Euro 2012 commitments earlier this summer, Andrews is already feeling like he has settled in due to the positive atmosphere at the club.

"Training has been very bubbly and enjoyable. Tough but enjoyable," he added. "In an ideal world you want to be settled at a football club, knowing that you're part of the team going forward and that hasn't been the case for me for the last couple of years.

"That was a big factor in why I came to Bolton. I wanted to be part of something, I wanted to feel a big part of it and already I feel that."

And Andrews is confident that he can reap the rewards of a settled life off the pitch, by replicating some of his recent impressive goalscoring form. He scored 9 goals in 20 appearances on loan at Championship club Ipswich.

"On the right occasion, I'd still like to get forward and hopefully chip in with goals because I think for the team it's vitally important that we can spread those goals around. It makes a big difference."

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