Rams Put Through Their Paces On First Day Back

Derby County’s players were straight down to work at the Training Centre in partnership with the University of Derby on Thursday morning.

Gary Rowett’s squad reported back for pre-season training ahead of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship campaign after undergoing fitness testing on Wednesday.

The players, having been given off-season fitness progammes to follow, undertook a football session in the Derbyshire rain under the watchful eye of Rowett and his coaching staff.

Then, following a lunch break, the squad were in the gym for their afternoon session alongside the strength and conditioning team.

George Thorne and Craig Forsyth, following long-term injury lay-offs, completed the sessions.

Richard Keogh, Cyrus Christie, Alex Pearce, Ikechi Anya and Jonathan Mitchell have been given extra time off as a result of their international commitments during the summer.

Striker Chris Martin had the same opportunity, after being part of the Scotland squad to face England earlier this month, but he opted to resume training with the majority of the squad.

The one fresh face in the squad was defender Curtis Davies, who joined from Hull City earlier this month.

From an injury perspective, Jason Shackell (back) and Max Lowe (abdominal strain) are still working on their rehabiltation programmes and are not in full training.

The players will train again on Friday before flying out to Tenerife on Sunday for a week-long training camp to increase their workload in the lead-up to the new campaign.