Bristol Rovers are a week into their pre-season schedule and, so far, things have gone pretty much as planned for Joey Barton and his players.
A hard four days of training at The Quarters resulted in only a few injury concerns and the week culminated with an encouraging 6-1 win at Melksham Town on Friday to inject plenty of momentum into Rovers' preparations ahead of the new campaign.
With more than 20 players involved, there was plenty going on at the Oakfield Stadium. Here are some of the moments you may have missed...
Familiar face in the opposition
Teamsheets were not distributed by Rovers' excellent hosts, nor was the home side announced on social media, but it soon became clear there would be a familiar face in the opposition.
Former Gas forward Chris Zebroski was leading the line for Melksham in the first half, going up against Rovers' centre-half pairing of James Connolly and Jamie Egan. By and large, Zebroski got little change from the defence with the Gas dominant in possession, but the 35-year-old plugged away gamely nonetheless.
Zebroski played for Rovers in the 2011/12 campaign, scoring five times in 44 appearances for the club. Before his time at Rovers, he had played for the likes of Plymouth Argyle, Torquay United and Millwall.
Stints at Cheltenham Town, Newport County and Eastleigh followed before turning out for Swindon Supermarine and Wantage Town among others in recent years.
Zebroski and his Melksham teammates would be in action just a few hours later, facing Swindon Town at the Oakfield Stadium on Saturday. They lost a hard-fought game 3-2.
Cutting no corners
The 11 players that took to the field for the Gas in the first half put in a decent shift, with the frontline and the full-backs flying forward and attacking with intent. It was a more sedate runout for the likes of Paul Coutts, who was running the game with his trademark accuracy in possession without getting out of second gear.
The 45 minutes banked were hugely worthwhile for the starters, but their night's work was not done yet, with Rovers refusing to cut any corners.
While the officials and the Melksham players headed down the tunnel for the break, Rovers' strength and conditioning head Tom Short was orchestrating length-of-the-pitch runs for each player to ensure they all had the right amount of miles in their legs to raise their levels of peak fitness and endurance ahead of the trip to Portugal, where the intensity will doubtless increase.
Captain Evans
Antony Evans has assumed the role of a leader by example at Rovers, time and time again inspiring his teammates with stellar individual contributions last season. He was a talisman on the pitch and one of the driving forces behind the promotion push.
Barton has also hinted at Evans' qualities in the dressing room and around the group, and that was evidenced by the 23-year-old wearing the captain's armband in the second half.
The captaincy and the armband, in truth, might be relatively unimportant, but it is a symbol of Evans' place in the squad. He is much more than a flair player to Rovers.
Evans was in fine form on his return to action – his first appearance since signing a new three-year deal – mustering two assists and cracking the post with a brilliant strike from long range.
Barton's gesture
A sizable number of Gasheads made the trip to Melksham, bloating the crowd to 2,011, and plenty of them stayed behind after the final whistle in hope of getting a picture or an autograph from their heroes.
Barton, in particular, was mobbed after completing his post-match media duties, appearing to take dozens of photos with supporters before heading for the exit.
One person was bold enough to ask Barton for his jacket as a souvenir, and the manager duly obliged, making that fan's evening one to remember.
The squad, too, took their time to meet and greet the fans that had attended.
Teenager gets call-up
With a small number of Rovers players picking up minor knocks and niggles in the first week of pre-season training, no risks were taken, giving several youngsters the chance to step up and make an impression.
One of those was 16-year-old first-year scholar Will Larvin, who was called up on the day to join the squad with Nick Anderton among those wrapped up in cotton wool.
Larvin played at centre-half in the second period alongside Alfie Kilgour and will no doubt reflect on a valuable learning experience ahead of the upcoming under-18s campaign.
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