Latest Apprentices

Monday it was more running and more ball work to see how much further my ankle could take me. We did some longer passing but still not striking the ball full-on as I didn’t feel comfortable about it. ..

On Wednesday we started mobilising my ankle through massage and working it round the full range of movement providing there was no pain apparent. I also started walking and jogging today just to get the movement back in the ankle. ..

After the weekend and the injection on Friday, my ankle started to feel less sore but I was told to carry on resting up doing absolutely nothing up until the Wednesday when we would start to get some mobilisation in the ankle and start back running. ..

After consulting the both the physio’s at the club and the club doctor I decided to have a cortisone injection into my ankle where I was still experiencing pain. Surprisingly the injection didn’t hurt too much..

Match: Manchester United vs Stoke City

Probably the most glamorous fixture in our season, United away and this would be a good time to put in a good performance. The conditions at Carrington were awful and it was the windiest game that I’ve been involved in. ..

Match: Hull City U18 v Preston North End U18

Saturday and a long trip to Hull for a place in the semi final was at stake. We set off to Deepdale at about 7.30 and arrived just after 10am. The coach driver had stopped at the KC Stadium thinking we were playing there!..

Friday and once again I was with Dave for a while in the morning. The session wasn’t as long as yesterday though because the pros were traveling to Watford at 2pm. We did some work with shots from the angle and some second ball work. ..

On Thursday we were training as there was no college due to it being half term week. Everyone’s attention was starting to turn to the big match against Hull at the weekend. ..

Wednesday and the pros were off so we had the training ground to ourselves again. We were split into two groups, half of the lads went swimming and the other half stayed and did some testing in the gym. The test was to see what effect fatigue had on accuracy…

Match: Manchester City Reserves v Preston North End Reserves

Tuesday was match day and it was Manchester City away. We had to report at Deepdale at 11.30 therefore we didn’t have to go into training in the morning. We played at a stadium which is literally right next to the City of Manchester stadium…

The pros had Monday off following their great game with Pompey so we had the training ground to ourselves. Geoff was away skiing so that meant no weights, something I wasn’t complaining about!..

Sunday was match day and Portsmouth were in town. The Sky TV crew were in the tunnel before the match including Martin Tyler, who I got a picture taken with. All the stars were there, including David James, who is an absolute monster. ..