O'Brien relishing challenge

26 July 2009 17:23
Bolton defender Andy O'Brien is looking forward to the challenge ahead with increased competition to get in the side. Trotters boss Gary Megson has increased his options in defence after recruiting Paul Robinson, Sam Ricketts and Zat Knight this summer. But O'Brien is relishing the challenge this competition will bring, believing it can only be healthy for the team. He told the club's official website: "Competition can only be healthy - at the end of the day you have got to look at the bigger picture. Principle"If you're in the team you have to work hard to stay in it, if you're not in the team then you have to work hard to get into it. The principle for all the players is all the same. "It's not going to be easy either way but I'm looking forward to it." O'Brien played the full 90 minutes in the 1-1 draw against Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday. He was delighted to get his first playing time of pre-season under his belt after more than two weeks of work out on the training field. "I believe it was Borussia's sixth game of pre-season so I thought we did okay but to fair, the tempo was fairly low key," said O'Brien. Hard work "It has been hard work but we are built on the principle of working very hard first and foremost. "I think last season a lot of teams struggled to keep up with the pace of us, so now it is about getting to the tempo that we need to sustain the standard of the Premier League. "We have done a lot of running, but you never know how sharp you are until you actually get out there. "You can run around all day but a football game is very different to running round reservoirs. It was good to get the first game under the belt because we were all itching to play."

Source: SKY_Sports