MOST of the hard work has been done and now, for Hartlepool United’s players, all focus is turning towards Saturday.

Pools kick-off their season at home to Colchester, with a friendly at Billingham Town tonight (7pm) the last of their preparations.

For Ritchie Humphreys, this is his eighth summer at the club and he has known just what to expect.

Humphreys has missed only a handful of games in his seven seasons and is a firm advocate of a tough pre-season ahead of a 46-game Football League campaign.

“Everyone has done their own programmes when they were away, and came back in great shape,’’ said the leftback, who will sport the No 3 shirt next season with new signing Ritchie Jones taking over his No 8 shirt.

“It’s been hard, a lot of track sessions, double sessions and the like – but that’s what you need.

“Throughout the season you have seen players who have missed pre-season and struggled later. But, for a long time at this club, we have tried to keep players fit throughout the season by preparing them right.’’ And after comfortably winning 3-2 at Rotherham on Saturday, Humphreys, among the contenders to be skipper, admitted: “I’m really pleased with pre-season – all you can do is get enough minutes on the board to get match fit.

“We’ve enjoyed some really good play at times. We had two games in two days last weekend and, during the season, you get fixtures played in quick succession so it stands you in good stead.

“We had Huddersfield last week and York, then Rotherham so we are up against styles which we are used to coming up against.’’