Leyton Orient’s George Elokobi believes this has been one of the toughest pre-seasons he has ever experienced during his time as a professional.

The O’s have certainly been put through their paces by the club’s coaching staff for the past month, with the squad recently returning from a weeklong warm weather training camp in Portugal, which culminated with a pre-season friendly against Benfica B.

Orient lost that match 5-4, their only defeat in pre-season so far having beaten Harlow Town, East Thurrock United and Concord Rangers, and their preparations for the upcoming National League season will ramp up tonight with another friendly against St Albans City.

Chris Powell’s Southend United will then visit the Breyer Group Stadium on Saturday before Orient kick off the new season with a tough away trip to the class of 92’s Salford City the following weekend, a match which will be televised on BT Sport.

Experienced centre-back Elokobi feels it has been a successful pre-season so far for the O’s and praised the club’s owners for allowing the squad to travel to Portugal, a decision the 32-year-old believes will be fruitful come the end of the campaign.

Elokobi said: “Pre-season has been going really well for us as a squad. Obviously there are players coming back from injury and are doing a full pre-season so it’s a tick in the box. It’s going really well.

“We didn’t have the chance to do pre-season together last season. This time around we have done it as a squad which is vital for us going into the new season. That’s all important for where we want to go.

“It (the trip to Portugal) was very good as we went away to concentrate on getting fitter and we thought as a squad that we got just that.

“The facilities were excellent. Credit to the club for getting us out there, because we did appreciate it going away. All we needed to do was just to focus on getting fitter and getting the work done out there.”

He added: “It was up there with one of the toughest away pre-season trips that I’ve ever had in my entire career. But it was good to get it done and to get away, which is going to benefit us in the long-term.”

Elokobi moved to the O’s last summer on a two-year deal after leaving Colchester United and despite a stop-start first season at Brisbane Road through injury, he proved himself to be a key member of the club’s defence.

The former Wolves defender is something of a fan favourite in East London and his commitment to the O’s was further evidenced over the summer, when he regularly visited Orient’s training ground to work on his fitness ahead of the new campaign.

His training regime was shown in a short documentary which was published on the club’s YouTube channel, where Elokobi spoke of his mentality and his first season at Brisbane Road.

But the Cameroon defender was keen to stress that he wasn’t the only player who was working on their fitness over the summer, with the rest of the Orient squad returning to training in good shape.

“Everyone had their programmes to follow and everyone put in the hard work,” he said.

“When we came back in, the testing results showed that everyone went away and followed their programme to the best of their ability. The boys are looking fitter.

“I just wanted to make sure that I stayed behind to prepare for this coming season, so that I give myself the best chance. I think I’ve done that.

“I’m hoping we carry on like this and we don’t pick up any injuries whatsoever so that we can go into the season with a full squad to choose from.

“We’ve still got two weeks until the season starts and there’s work to be done. All we need to do under the guidance of the manager and his coaching staff is to polish the stuff we’re not so good at and make sure we keep building up the fitness. The games are coming thick and fast and that’s important.”