In temperatures touching 30C, the Cobblers squad were put through a double session of running in the morning and afternoon under the watchful eye of manager Stuart Gray, who has already promised his squad will this season be one of the fittest around.

First up for the Cobblers players yesterday were 1,000 metre 'horseshoe' runs at Abington Park, although striker Adebayo Akinfenwa was excused after one shift of running.

He instead put his surgery-ravaged legs through a workout on a bicycle – a sensible precaution for a player with his injury record.

Pre-season is never a barrel of laughs for a professional footballer, but it is something all players know they have to go through to set themselves up for the nine-month marathon ahead.

New signing Dean Beckwith accepts it is a necessary hardship, and admitted: "It's a fresh start for me at a new club so I don't know what the training's going to be like.

"I've heard a few of the lads talking and I've heard it's going to be quite tough, but you expect that in pre-season.

"I've done seven or eight pre-seasons now, so I know what it's about.

"You have to keep yourself fit in your off-time, but pre-season is all about getting fit - and doing it on the hottest day of the year as well!

"So that's nice."

All the Town squad looked in good shape as they got to work yesterday, and Beckwith says the days of footballers turning up for pre-season training massively overweight following a summer binge of booze and burgers are long gone.

"You might put on 2lb or 3lb here and there, but it's not hard to lose that in the first week or two weeks," said the big defender.

"It is a lot more professional now and everybody looks after themselves a lot more."

Town's first team squad were all present for the first day of training, along with Paul Rodgers and Liam Dolman who are trying to win new contracts after being invited to pre-season.

There were also a couple of other unnamed trialists being put through their paces, with others expected to join in over the coming weeks as Gray tries to finalise his squad for the new campaign which kicks off in 38 days' time against Macclesfied at Sixfields!