Aston Villa fan Alex Rodman has admitted that he is looking forward to facing his boyhood club on Monday.
Rodman, who was born in Sutton Coldfield, started his youth career with Villa and has supported them since an early age.
“I’m actually a Villa fan”, Alex told ShrewsWeb.
“There are strong family connections, so I am looking forward to Saturday. Obviously, they are going to be a good team and it’s going to be tough.
“We probably won’t see a lot of the ball, so it will be a good fitness session, but we will be looking to put a lot of the hard work over the last few weeks into practice on the weekend.”
Pre-season has been described as ‘tough’ by a number of the Town squad over the last couple of weeks and Alex was no exception, but he is hopeful it will stand them in good stead for the season.
“It’s been very tough”, admitted Rodman.
“Last week in Portugal was very tough. It was triple sessions every day and even the recovery day was a double session, so that tells you everything about it.
“It was very hard in the heat, but we got what we wanted to out of it in terms of the fitness side of things and the miles in the legs.
“We got a lot of team bonding and the closeness out of it as well, which was the main objective, so it was a win-win all week.
“The hard work in the heat made it even tougher and I feel better for it. It’s about getting that load through our legs and hammering us until our bodies adapt to it and until we reach the levels we want to be at for the season.”
Town might see less of the ball than they generally would in a League One game, but Rodman believes it provides a good opportunity to work on fitness and team shape.
“They are only a league above us”, said Alex.
“They are one of the better teams in the Championship and hopefully they will be winning it this year, but it’s a fitness thing. It’s about working on your shape and being in the right positions tactically.
“They are better players and some of their boys earn ridiculous amounts of money there and they are there for a reason, so it will be a good test of us tactically and fitness wise.
“If you can do the business against players like that and teams like that then it stands you in good stead for the League One season.”