Lee Bullock column: After five long, hard weeks the waiting’s over now.

We’ve almost got a clear injury room after a few problems during pre-season so everybody is lively and ready to get going.

The gaffer’s been working us hard but it’s all been well structured – there’s been plenty of rest to go with that hard work.

Since getting back from Essex, we’ve had a couple of decent workouts against Rochdale and the local derby against Bradford Park Avenue.

The added bonus of the Avenue game was that we got to play on the nice, new pitch. All the lads enjoyed being out there and it was brilliant to play on, especially when you remember what the groundsman had to put up with last year.

The depth we have in the squad was highlighted throughout pre-season and, in the days leading up to the game, nobody’s had a clue what the team will be.

The gaffer has been keeping us guessing, which is great because it keeps everyone on their toes in training to get that shirt for Saturday.

Although hopes are high and the bookies have made us favourites for promotion, we’re approaching the season with a different mentality to previous years.

I think the fans are sick to death of hearing what we’re going to do because it’s all been said before. We’ve got the mentality of keeping it in the dressing room and if things go wrong, we’ll have a right go at each other in there.

We know what we’re capable of and if it’s going well, everyone can see it but we’re not going to go out shouting it. This club is already a scalp without us going out and blowing our own trumpets.

Shrewsbury will be a tough start because they’ll fancy their chances themselves but it’s also the kind of game where we can go out and set a benchmark for the season.

There’s a lot of hard work to be done to achieve that.