Steven Gregory went into the pre-season at Gillingham afraid of what was to come.

But the midfielder admitted the experience has not been as bad as he feared and that he is with a group of players fitter than any other club he has been involved with.

“I feared it,” said the 25-year-old. “I had heard some horrific stories, a lot of the boys from last year said it was the hardest pre-season they had ever had.

“There were stories from (last year’s trip) in Le Touquet about the running that they had to do over there.

“But it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It was tough but it is what you expect in pre-season and the boys have been magnificent. It is definitely the fittest club I have
been at.

“There are some real good runners in our team and everyone has looked after themselves well."

Gregory started Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat against Ipswich and played 74 minutes.

He said: “It was a good blow and much more of a test than we have had up to now. It was good for the legs, to get that sort of game under our belts and a lot of the boys did close to 90 minutes so it was positive."