WANDERERS' Premiership stars passed up on a sunshine break in Spain to take part in outward bound team-building exercises - including toilet racing - in the Lake District.

And they were not disappointed.

"This was definitely the best," Anthony Barness confirmed after the squad returned from Windermere where they splattered each other in paint-balling games, raced on mountain bikes and got drenched on canoes and rafts on the lake.

"It was discussed among some of the more senior players and the staff who weighed up the pros and cons and I think it was just decided that all the outdoor activities would be more beneficial whereas in Spain it would just have been a sunshine break."

Wanderers are fast building a reputation for off-beat antics which they believe enhances team spirit and gives them the edge over their rivals as they get to grips with the pressures of the Premiership.

They have staged a bizarre banquet at which their game for a laugh chairman, Phil Gartside, and other staff members tucked into stomach churning "delicacies" and, although the precise details of Nicky Southall's party-piece on a players' night out are not on offer for public consumption, the midfielder they call "Trigger" is reported to have been the star turn of that particular "bonding session".

"Team spirit has been one of the things the staff and the players have focused on since we came back for pre-season," Barness explains.

"We've had a couple of nights out together where players have to give a speech and once everyone starts having a laugh at each other, it brings you together.

"I can't go into details as to what it was but Nicky Southall's has definitely been the best."

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