Ben Davies / Ben Davies / 21 January 2010 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet View Market

Ben Davies tells us about getting lapped by the goalkeeper in training, begging for the junk food to be hidden at home and Jermaine Beckford's next step.

"When I first joined the club in July I could not believe how fit the lads were. I was not sure whether I had joined football club or a running club. Even our goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington is a machine."

Well, we have finally played a game of football. After all of the postponements over the last few weeks we finally got our F.A Cup match against Forest Green Rovers played this week. We won the game 2-1 and have now set ourselves up with a home time against Premier League side Wigan Athletic this Saturday.

It was good to be playing again but it was hard to get back in to the swing of things having only played once in five weeks. I think all of the lads felt a bit rusty during the game but we did enough in the end to get the win. It is always tricky playing a side in a lower league than you and Forest Green were no exception. They came and had a go and put on a very good performance.

We are lucky enough to have a very good fitness coach at the club and he has ensured that we have all maintained a very high level of fitness. Keeping fit is not really a problem for myself as it is something that I love doing. I enjoy the gym and try to get down there as often as I can after training. I am actually quite obsessed when it comes to my fitness and gym work and I have to do my set work outs during the week. This is a good thing as I am the type of player who needs to be constantly training. Some players I have played with over the years can get away with eating what they want and doing as little training as possible and still turn up on a match day and perform. I am not one of these players. I need to be eating correctly and putting the hours in to be able to give the best possible account of myself come match day.

We have some very fit lads at Notts County and pre season always brings out the best in them. I am about fifth or sixth fittest at the club and normally finish just behind the fitness freaks in the running. Our left back Jamie Clapham is unbelievable. He can run all day and always wins the long distance races. When I first joined the club in July I could not believe how fit the lads were. I was not sure whether I had joined football club or a running club. Even our goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington is a machine. Goalkeepers are renowned for normally finishing ages after the outfield lads but Pilks was lapping me. I was distraught. However, when it comes to the sprinting, Luke Rodgers is the main man. He is like lightening. We do a lot of sprinting drills at Notts and Luke just glides through them all.

Diet is another thing that I am big on. My diet is something that I have changed ever since we had a Dietician brought in when I was at Chester City. My diet used to be shocking but since changing it I have noticed a massive difference. Diet is one of the most important things for any athlete. The only real time I binge and eat what I want is on a Saturday night when it is usually a Chinese followed by chocolate or when it is one of the lads' birthdays at the club and they have to bring in a load of cakes. I stick to a strict diet as much as I can so much so that if my wife buys in any junk food I tell her to hide it from me because if it is somewhere where i can find it, I will eat the lot!

Since being a footballer I have worked under plenty of managers, all with different views on various things. One thing that most differ on is when the actual starting eleven gets named. Some say it during the week so that tactics can be worked on ready for the next game, some the day before the game, and some only an hour before kick off. I must admit I prefer to know whether I am playing as soon as possible in the build up to the game as otherwise I tend to be constantly worrying about whether I will be or not, instead of focusing on the game.

This weekend sees Leeds travel to Tottenham Hotspur. Jermaine Beckford has never been far from the transfer talk over the last few weeks, having scored loads of goals over the last season and a half whilst coming to the end of his contract this summer. He has recently said that he wants to come off the transfer list and concentrate on winning Leeds United promotion. Jermaine can no doubt make the step up to the Championship and probably all the way to the Premier League. He has pace and is a deadly finisher as he has proved for some time now. It will be interesting to see how he gets on when he does play at a higher level whether it be Leeds or with another club. The F.A Cup provides a chance for a lot of players to test themselves against players playing at a higher level and show everyone that they can hold their own against the best. Hopefully that will be the case at Meadow Lane this Saturday.

My bets this week are for Tottenham to beat Leeds at [1.32] and for there to be over 2.5 goals at [1.68].

Tags: Ben Davies footballer, FA Cup fixtures, football bets, Jermaine Beckford, Leeds United, Notts Conty players