Training started at 9am on Monday morning and we went straight in to a tight square keeping the ball one and two touch with two men in the middle trying to intercept the ball. We then went into a short passing session, moving the ball quickly to one another, and this developed into the next session where we finished with a shot on goal from one-touch build up play.

My first 3 weeks here have been great, I’ve found the people in Umea very friendly and my team mates have been really welcoming. I feel quite at home here already and everyone speaks good English so it’s easy to communicate as I haven’t learnt any Swedish yet!

Today was the day that we were going to get told about our future at the Club. We got in early at 9:00am only to be told that we weren’t getting the news until after dinner so it was an anxious few hours waiting around. Finally the time had come to found out the verdict and what our future was to be at Stoke City.

Match: Stoke City Reserves vs Wolverhampton Wanderers Reserves

I found myself with a start in this Reserve game against Wolves. We were again fielding a young side. Wolves had a fairly well experienced team on show and it was evident with their early dominance and possession but it was us had the first and best chance of the first half.

Match: Stoke City vs R.A.F

Again I started on the bench in what was a very young team consisting of mainly schoolboys who have been offered an apprenticeship for the upcoming season.

Match: Stoke City Reserves vs Port Vale Reserves

We were in on Wednesday for a short session because on Thursday we had a Reserve game against Port Vale and a lot of the Youth team would be involved in the match either in starting or on the bench.

Match: Stoke City vs Huddersfield Town

Match day and I had made the bench and was told that I was coming on for around half an hour. Half time came and the game was 0-0.

Back in full-time training with the lads ahead of yet another game tomorrow against Huddersfield at home and I was hoping that I would get into the squad and make an appearance in the match.

Match: Barnsley vs Stoke City

I travelled away with the lads up to Barnsley although not playing because Banko wants me to do the warm-up before the match and also to do some running after the match to help to get my fitness levels up.

Preparation day for the match tomorrow against Barnsley so it wasn’t a hard session and we finished after dinner. Me and Banko went up to the Dome and played some head tennis to keep ourselves occupied for the afternoon.

Match: Stoke City vs Middlesbrough

Today the lads had a game against Middlesbrough. I did some running at a better pace beforehand as my ankle has felt better and stronger every day.

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.

Saturday and everyone was in as the first team were training in preparation for the FA Cup tie against Portsmouth. I was with Dave again and we did some handling work before moving into some exercises that Szamo had learned in Poland.

Match: Stoke City vs West Bromwich Albion

We were hoping to get our own back over a team we thought we could have beat the last time round but didn’t. We had also played our worst game to date at their place.