TOWN striker John McAliskey missed out on a call-up for the Republic of Ireland Under 21s and is now concentrating on being at peak fitness for a return to pre-season training.

The 20-year-old had hoped to be included for this Friday's UEFA qualifier against Israel in Dublin but was not required by coach Don Givens.

Instead, McAliskey will take a holiday before resuming fitness training which has already included a week at Lilleshall with his international teammates.

"My aim now is to make sure I'm ready for pre-season so that I can do as well as possible," said McAliskey.

"Last year was my first pre-season with the senior squad and I didn't realise how hard it would be.

"This time, I'm determined to make sure I do plenty of work in the gym over the summer and keep up my fitness so that I can stay on top of things.

"Last season, I was happy for the team with the way we finished but pretty disappointed for myself because I didn't play as much in the first team as I wanted.

"After coming through like I did the season before, I wanted to keep that going and to play a lot more games.

"Hopefully, though, I will benefit from the extra fitness work I'm going to be doing and make a good start to next season, playing a lot of games."

McAliskey is optimistic that Town - who will face Southend (League II play-off winners) and Hartlepool (League I play-off losers to Sheffield Wednesday yesterday) next season - will do well in 2005-06.

"I thought we were unlucky not to make the play-offs and, with this extra experience under our belts, I think we will do well next season," he said.

"We've got a great young squad and everyone is keen to show what they can do."