Latest Apprentices

Had a double session today, involving possession and a couple of small sided games. Myself, Jimmy and Tucker went across with the first team in the morning to train with them and then it was back with the lads for the afternoon. ..

Match: Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City

A rather early start with being away at Blackburn which is always good on a Saturday morning! My prediction was also proved correct it was an extremely tough game and once it had settled down after a hectic opening ten minutes we managed to take the lead! ..

Again, a bit like the session yesterday plus it was the usual Friday drill. We went down to the training ground and practiced set plays and had a little game of possession getting prepared for the game tomorrow…

First day back in after the Christmas break and we got a pleasant surprise when we were told that we weren’t running! Partly down to the fact that we have a game on Saturday away to Blackburn Rovers which should be a tough one…

Last day in with the lads before breaking up for Christmas. We went down to the training ground and were split into two teams, one was made up of the local lads from Stoke with Coaches Ady and Ronnie and the other team was made up of everyone else. ..

Easy day at College today, with it being the last day at College we were let out of the classrooms and we went down to the sports halls to do some practical stuff like basketball, volleyball and badminton etc…

Down on the training pitch early this morning because of College. Me and Tucka (Tom Thorley) were sent across to train with the first team for the morning before being taken away to College…

A relatively easy session this morning. Me and a few others were told that we were involved with the Reserves later on that night away to Coventry. Although I didn’t get onto the pitch and was an unused substitute it was just a pleasure to warm up on a pitch in a stadium as good as the Ricoh Arena. ..

Match: Stoke City vs Everton

Ady rested a lot of the players that had played in the match on Wednesday night and was playing a lot of the lads that hadn’t been involved or were on the bench. I was told that I was starting on the bench but was sharing the game with another centre midfielder and was coming on at half time…

The morning after the night before and all the lads were still on a real high from the game. This helped to make College a little less boring and a bit more bearable with all the banter…

Match: Stoke City vs Wigan Athletic

Day of the Youth Cup game versus Wigan Athletic and it was at the normal time so no rest or a lie in for us! Again we went down to the training ground for an hour just to finalise our set plays and then we finished with a penalty shoot-out to prepare us if the game was to go all the way. ..

Not a lot in terms of training on Monday. We were getting focussed on the up-and-coming F.A. Youth Cup match on Wednesday and spent the time on the training ground going through shape and set plays. ..