Bradley Orr happy putting in the extra miles for Bristol City

For Bradley Orr at least, the pace of modern living seems to be gathering momentum by the day.

If the arrival of twins in March meant home life would never be quite the same for the popular defender, domestic change could scarcely have prepared him for the upheaval when he returned to his day job.

Deployed as a central midfielder by previous club Newcastle United and ex-Bristol City boss Brian Tinnion, the Scouser made a successful conversion to right-back at the behest of Robins manager Gary Johnson.

But having made that position his own, Orr was charged with the task of re-inventing himself once again after reporting back for pre-season training.

Whereas he would previously seldom venture into the opposition half, Orr is now to be seen covering every blade of grass as an overlapping wing-back.

No-one will be more interested to discover their own statistical performance when the opening few games of the campaign are subjected to Pro-Zone analysis. Certainly, it will come as a surprise if Orr is not found to be covering close to twice the distance he was before.

"This system tests my fitness to its limit," said Orr, ahead of tomorrow's opening home game of the Championship campaign against Crystal Palace.

"There is a lot of running involved and I try to prepare the best I can on a daily basis. The perception is that wing-backs run more, and it certainly feels that way. Because you have to attack and defend, your positional sense becomes even more important."

Orr added: "I've never played that position before and it's still a matter of getting used to it. It looks like the gaffer's going to go with it, at least for the time being. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter so long as I'm in the starting eleven.

"I'm encouraged to get forward more now and I've set myself a personal goals target. That's fine so long as the team is winning and I just hope this formation works."

As with any playing system, there are pros and cons. Typically, Orr prefers to accentuate the positives. He said: "It creates a lot of options and natural angles and encourages you to get the ball down and play.

"We've played that system since early pre-season and we've already created a lot of chances. There are a lot of plusses to it and I'm confident we will score goals."

Of the minuses, he said: "That's for the opposition to try and figure out, not for me to tell them. We don't focus on the negatives, we just do what's asked of us."

One thing is certain, tomorrow's game will offer spectators a contrast in styles, given that Palace will be moulded in the character of their manager.

"You always know what you're going to get from a Neil Warnock side," said Orr. "Palace will be very hard-working and in our faces from the kick-off.

"But within that framework, they also have some very talented individuals, players who can get the ball down, run at you and create problems."

Last season's record of 13 home draws cost the Robins any chance of making the play-offs and Orr added: "That was our biggest stumbling block. We were winning those games two seasons ago and we have to emulate that this time round.

"It's easy saying it – we have to go out there and do it. Hopefully, this new system will help us achieve that."