CITY’S summer has been a lot shorter than most in League One.

When Stuart McCall’s squad reconvene at Woodhouse Grove on Thursday, it will be only 40 days since the agony of Wembley defeat to Millwall.

But you’ll not hear Matt Kilgallon grumbling about a curtailed holiday break.

Pre-season cannot start soon enough for the experienced defender, who has a freshly signed one-year deal in his pocket.

This time 12 months ago, Kilgallon was without a club and training by himself. He only joined the club less than a week before the campaign curtain-raiser and spent the first month playing catch-up.

So the former Leeds, Sunderland and Blackburn man is keen to be involved from day one.

He said: “It’s a massive help to get a full pre-season under your belt. You’ve got that base of fitness straight away.

“I’d just come in last year and they were starting the league the next Saturday, so obviously I wasn’t ready.

“It was frustrating as they were all flying because they had that fitness and people were going past me in training. I was still trying to build things up.

“That’s why it’s so important to do the whole pre-season – and we’ve also got some cracking games as well against really good teams, which will help us again.”

Kilgallon had a stop-start first campaign at Valley Parade and was restricted to only ten starts.

Having finally fought his way into contention, his season was wrecked by a serious pectoral injury against Millwall in January. After surgery, he would miss the next three months – leaving him sweating on the prospect of getting another contract.

He said: “That’s football, isn’t it. I’d waited patiently and filled in a couple of times at left back for (James) Meredith.

“Then when I got in the team at my position at centre half, I got the injury. Just 30 minutes into a game and you take your muscle off the bone from a slide tackle – it was a bit of a freak.

“The specialist who did the surgery said I’d be finished for the season.

“But I worked hard with the physios, who were great with me, and I just really wanted to get back.

“Being involved in the last three games of the season and the play-offs was massive. I worked hard and did all my rehab’ and got back in time.

“Those months when I was out and watching the lads do well was hard. But it was also good to see the football they were playing.”

With Meredith and Rory McArdle moving on, and no decision yet over Tony McMahon, Kilgallon’s old head at the back could have a pivotal role.

He did not take any persuading to accept the contract offer.

Kilgallon admitted: “I wasn’t sure what was happening at first. I didn’t play many games, so I didn’t know what they were thinking.

“But I hoped they saw enough in the games when I did play and in training to show that I can do well for the team.

“I think getting back for the end of the season and playing that game at centre half (against Rochdale), they saw then that I’ve got something to offer.

“The gaffer and the chairman both wanted me to sign so when I got back from holiday, I signed the next day.”

Kilgallon, an unused sub in the play-off final, admitted coming so close to promotion was a bitter blow. He felt a fresh twinge when the new fixtures were announced last week.

“They come out for the Championship and you see that Millwall have got Nottingham Forest first game of the season,” he said.

“That’s when it really hit me personally. You think what a shame it is that we couldn’t have been there.

“But we had such a good season and we should be proud of that.

“We should be full of confidence after the way we performed. We didn’t get beaten at home and played really nice football.

“We should be going into next season saying ‘right, we need to do this again’. We can’t sit back – we need to work hard in pre-season, get our fitness and hopefully turn those draws we had last year into wins.

“I think it will be a harder league this season. Some big teams have come down and a lot are strengthening.

“But we’ve got the players there and hopefully we’ll bring some more in to help us.

“There will be a lot more happening. I’m just glad that I’m there now for the whole of pre-season.”