By Club Spokesman Jordan Sibley in Interlaken

Day Eight

After the fun and excitement of the players' day off on Wednesday, it was back to business on day eight of the Club's overseas training camp, as the players returned to their gruelling training schedule.

With one eye on Saturday's match against FC Sochaux, Alan Pardew and the rest of the coaching team set about preparing the squad for what looks set to be another tough test as the squad takes another step towards full match fitness.

Alan Pardew prepares the squad at the start of training

Nick Harvey, the Club's Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach, took charge of the squad and began to put them through a range of stretching exercises before taking them on a few laps of the training ground. Dean Wilkins then took over, working in a tight area with the ball. He encouraged the players to work on their touch, awareness and movement with and without the ball.

Aaron Martin keeps a close eye on the ball

Before long it was time for the players to get some proper time with the ball at their feet, working in half a pitch. Pardew had the team practising different phases of play that involved the central midfielders attacking the defenders and spreading the ball out wide for the wingers to deliver balls into the box.

At the end of the session, Wally Downes pulled the wingers to one side, along with striker Lee Barnard to work on perfecting the team's set piece play from corners. With Lee Holmes, Ryan Dickson and Dan Harding swinging in crosses from one side, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Callum McNish from the other, Downes acted as a central defender and encouraged Barnard to time his runs to meet the ball in front of the defender.

Lee Barnard prepares to meet a Lee Holmes corner

Holmes stood out on this particular drill, regularly hitting the target with pin-point accuracy, and as the impromptu session progressed, Barnard began to get into his rhythm.

After lunch it was time to hit the gym once more, however, this time the session was a little unorthodox. Taking advantage of one of the hotel's fitness instructors, the team took part in a step class, something that is designed to improve co-ordination and footwork. Radhi Jaidi was the star of the show, pulling off some outrageous moves in time to the music.

Radhi Jaidi was the star of the afternoon step class

Late in the day it was decided that the team would take in another training session at the training ground. Alan Pardew took the strikers to one end of the pitch to work on their finishing, with Lee Barnard standing out for the accuracy of his shooting. The team then threw themselves into a high paced match on half a pitch, with Wally Downes showing refereeing credentials that would not have looked out of place at the World Cup!

Kelvin Davis stayed behind at the end of the day for a good half an hour after the rest of the squad had returned to the hotel, working on his long range kicking until the sun began to set on another tough day in Interlaken.

Check back this time tomorrow to find out what the squad got up to on day nine of their overseas training camp. In the meantime, you can catch up on all the latest as it happens via the Club's official Twitter page - www.twitter.com/officialsaints

As ever, Saints Player will be bringing you exclusive footage from behind the scenes in Interlaken, including footage of all of today's events. If you aren't already a subscriber to the Club's TV service, there has never been a better time to be part of the action.