David Artell has confirmed that his pre-season preparations have been slightly hampered by the need for some of his staff and players to self-isolate due to having slight symptoms of Covid-19 or being asked to self-isolate due to the Track & Trace system.

Artell was without his assistant manager, Kenny Lunt, after he was forced to self-isolate and the club have been without new signing Shaun MacDonald and forwards Chris Porter and Mika Mandron due to their need to self-isolate for 10 days.

Artell says it is not ideal because it has meant some players have had to play more minutes than expected at this stage of the pre-season, but it is something we have had to become accustom to during the global pandemic.

Artell told the club’s official website: “We have a few who are self-isolating. One or two have it but are okay, and others have been pinged after being in contact with someone who has had it. If it is good enough for Boris to self-isolate then it is good enough for Shaun MacDonald too.

“They are all isolating but will be back soon. It is something we have had to live with and although it is not ideal it is probably better to happen now than when the season kicks off.

“It has meant that some of the players have had to play more minutes than we would have liked at this stage of the pre-season but it is credit to them that they are fit enough to do that.

He added: “They were used to that at the start of last season when it was Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday for a while, so I am certainly not displeased about where we are at the moment.”