Martyn Waghorn is looking forward to the Sky Blues’ first game of the campaign with City supporters back in Coventry for a competitive fixture for the first time since April 2019.
“I’ve got that buzz, I think it’s a good sign I look forward to the first game of the season, if it stopped then I’d probably have to question myself. This is what you work hard for, put all the hours of hard work in with your team and it’s a game everybody wants to play in.
“It’s a new season and a new chapter for the club as well as being a fresh start for myself and I’m just looking forward to getting started and seeing how we get on.
“I feel very good going into it and I’m feeling sharp. Hopefully it’ll be a good weekend as we’ve all worked hard all pre-season and now the first game has finally come around, we can’t wait to get going.”
Waghorn got off the mark last weekend with a penalty when City took on Wolves at the Coventry Building Society Arena and spoke of his delight playing back in front of fans at the stadium.
“It’s obviously nice to get your first goal as a striker, its only pre-season but you want to score goals and set a precedent for the season so to do that last weekend showed we are going in the right direction.
“We’ve played five games and each game we’ve gradually progressed. Sunday was a good sign of everything coming together and to do that in front of the fans back in the stadium made it a very nice day.
“We’ve spent the least season being greeted by utter silence when you come out onto the pitch so to get the fans cheering and clapping, as well as hearing a few boos from the Wolves fans, was good and I’m looking forward to getting a bit more stick throughout the season.
Waghorn anticipates Chris Hughton’s side to be a stern test and believes having Sky Blues fans in the stadium will give the players an extra boost as City seek to start the new campaign with three points.
“I have spoken to a lot of people around the club about the supporters and I remember the following they had when I played here before. To have that support is much appreciated by us, we understand how difficult it has been for the fans, so we look forward to seeing them back to bring some normality back to the games.
“We know it’s going to be a difficult game, everybody knows Forest are a strong team in this league, they have had a difficulties over the past year with Covid and players coming and going like everyone else but they are a very strong side with some very good individuals.
“Being the first game of the season you don’t know what’s going to happen so it’s about us setting a benchmark for the year for how we want to go about things and set off on the right foot and get a positive result.”