The management and players returned from their pre-season tour of Germany on Friday with a tiring day of travelling bringing the trip to Celle to a close.

The five-night trip saw the travelling party stop at Trenchard Barracks, home of The 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment - better known as 'The Poachers' - which is located to the north of the beautiful lower Saxony town.

On arrival in Germany early on Sunday evening, the players were quickly out on to the camp playing field for the first of what would become some seriously testing runs for Peter Jackson's squad, which increased in distance as the week progressed.

The first full day saw the players enjoy their first session with the PTI's in the gymnasium whilst the afternoon the squad prepared for a practice match against The 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, which unfortunately had to be cancelled with Jacko concerned about the poor state of the camp football pitch.

Both Tuesday and Wednesday consisted of three sessions, split between running, PTI sessions, ball work and exercises in the swimming pool whilst the squad managed to get in a practice session at the Günther-Volker-Stadion, the home of TuS Celle FC - Thursday night's pre-season friendly opponents, whilst the Club's coaching team also gave the The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers team a lengthy coaching session instead of the planned practice game.

Early evening on Wednesday, meanwhile, was spent at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial. Located on the grounds of the former Prisoner of War and concentration camps, the memorial contains marked graves and monuments, including that of Anne Frank, and hold reminders of the suffering and deaths of its prisoners. It was certainly a most thought-provoking trip for all the party.

Training sessions quietened down a bit on Thursday ahead of the match against TuS Celle, which gave Jacko a chance to cast his eye over his squad. New boys Richard Butcher, Chris Fagan, Jamie Clarke and Joe Heath, plus trialist Cian Hughton, all featured in the match but forced to watch from the stands were Lenny John-Lewis, who's still a couple of weeks away from being ready for competitive football, skipper Scott Kerr, who had picked up a knee injury and teenaer Andy Hutchinson, who had picked up a nasty sickness bug.

Despite dominating the game and carving out numerous chances, City slipped to a single-goal defeat against their hosts; the winner coming seven minutes after Rob Burch had palmed clear a penalty, which was taken on the half-hour mark by home skipper Marvin Stieler. Despite the defeat, Jacko was happy with his squad's application and pleased with the fitness levels sustained during the course of the week.

Early starts were the norm during the course of the stay and following an 8.00am session in the pool, the travelling party departed for Hanover Airport for the flight back to Manchester. A two-hour delay, a somewhat turbulent flight across Amsterdam and heavy traffic on the M62 on the coach journey back to Lincoln certainly made for a tiring journey home.

The Club would like to thank everyone from The Royal Anglian Regiment for the hospitality shown to them and all supporters who made the trip across to Celle for the game.

Video highlights of the friendly against Tus Celle FC and a selection of photographs taken during the trip to Germany, meanwhile, will be online here at redimps.com during the coming days.