City defender Bruno Berner can remember this time of year as being one of relaxation, maybe a bit of sun and certainly no hard work - as opposed to what he faces now.

When playing in Switzerland, there was a winter break and definitely not a festive programme of two games in three days as part of the holidays. However, because the team is challenging strongly for promotion, he does not miss the lay-off.

He said: "In Switzerland, we have frozen pitches as well and we were used to a winter break which is pretty long, from the middle of December to mid Feburary so it is more or less two months."

That sounds ideal in one sense, but there is a price to pay as Bruno explained: "That is why we have two pre-seasons on the continent, one in the summer and one in the winter which is the very tough one, a bit longer. Normally we would fly away to some fantastic desitinations."

Not quite a trip to Doncaster then!

However, as you would expect, Bruno is as determined as ever: "I don't regret playing throughout Christmas at all because when the team is doing well, you want to keep playing."