Day 5
The day had arrived for the much anticipated game against Scunthorpe United. This time we were allowed to have an extra hour in bed which gave the boys a slight buzz when they found out.
That meant that we were up for breakfast at half nine and by this time Coach Dave had departed back to England to fulfil other duties. After breakfast we had time to prepare ourselves for a very light pre-match training session and after the session took place I was informed that I wouldn’t be participating in the game ahead. which was much to my disappointment as I wanted to make an immediate impact.
However there was a much tougher game ahead on the coming Sunday against ADO Den Haag so I made sure I kept focus and helped my team mates do what they had to do to complete the job at hand.
After that we had lunch and a period of time to relax and have a few snacks before we departed for ADO Den Haag’s training ground which is where the match was to be played.
We all arrived looking professional and focused ready to do a job and as we walked past the Scunthorpe players we kept a look of focus and concentration on our faces.
Just before kick off our coach Tim gave the boys a motivational team talk to make sure we did the right things, as I watched the boys line up for kick off I felt a sensation in my stomach which was purely the desire of wanting to play or maybe the sensation was down to the red bull I had a few minutes before but either way I still wanted to play.
The match kicked off with us dominating the first half but the score remained 0-0 at half-time. The game finished 2-0 to us but control we had in the first half did die down in the second half making it much more of a contest.
We returned to the hotel upbeat and were all looking forward to the game against Den Haag on Sunday. We then had dinner which wasn’t to the taste of most of the boys and then it was time for bed.
Day 6
The day began at half nine after being given another lie in! We then met in reception to go for breakfast.
Today was scheduled as a recovery day and after breakfast we had much looked forward to recovery session in the pool with the physiotherapist Kev taking the session.
With everyone feeling rejuvenated after the pool, we then had a match analysis session where we was supposed to watch playback of the game against Scunthorpe United. I say supposed to because we ended up not watching it down to some technical confusion within the members of staff who were unable to get the video to work so we then got into groups to analyse what we did well and what we needed to improve on.
After that took place we then had some time to begin packing as we were to move hotels on Sunday after the game against Den Haag. The day was also schedule for a trip into Amsterdam, the capital of Holland, and a trip to the Amsterdam Arena, home of the national team, and also Ajax FC, to watch Ajax vs FC Twente.
We arrived in the city centre to have some free time, we walked round the city exploring different shops and we were sent into shock at some of the prices being displayed, for example a pair of trainers that would cost £65 were being sold for 99 Euros.
We met up again with the coaches to depart for the Amsterdam Arena, we were given 10 Euros to get some food when we arrived.
The quality of the food we bought with 10 Euros was not fantastic purely down to the cost of how much things are.
The atmosphere in the Dutch stadium was a good experience for me and the boys, FC Twente ended up winning the game 2-1 after being down to 10 men for most of the second half which was pretty impressive.
The departure back to the hotel was delayed after a swift exit from the stadium due to us parking behind another coach which took what seemed like half a day to move. We then arrived back at the hotel to get some sleep before the game against Den Haag the next day.
