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: Preston North End U18 v Tranmere Rovers U18

Thursday was College as usual and Friday was match day once again as Tranmere Rovers visited Springfields. It was our first game at Springfields since before Christmas when we beat Burnley 2-1.

Match: Preston North End U18 v Bury U18

Wednesday was match day, the quarter final for the Lancashire FA Youth Cup and league leaders Bury were the opponents. The game was delayed by 45 minutes due to a nasty accident on the M61.

Tuesday morning and once again we were on grass due to the good weather. We also learned that we wouldn’t be playing the Bury game at Deepdale, but at Irongate, Bamber Bridge FC’s ground, which everyone wasn’t too happy with.

A number of things have happened since I last wrote. The Christmas break and other things interrupted my routine but since my last post the first team have managed to get themselves in and out of the relegation zone.

Saturday and with no game for us it was virtually a day off! However, there was the small matter of the Lancashire Derby. Blackpool were the visitors to Deepdale. They went away with the three points thanks to a Wes Houlahan penalty.

Friday and not surprisingly, due to the amount of rain we’ve had, the match against Bury was called off. So we went off to Tulketh High yet again for some more 5-a-sides. Once again these were fiercely competitive; I was doing OK until one match where I had an absolute nightmare.

Wednesday and the pros had a day off after their match with Hull. With the pitches unplayable yet again, we went up to the indoor pitches at Tulketh High School. We just played a few 5-a-sides, I did well in these but got some nasty burns again off the plastic grass!

Tuesday was match day for the pros. With the pitches still being unplayable we went up to Corpus Christi High School. It has a brand new 3rd generation turf pitch, which is great. Dave came up to work with Tommo and me.

Monday morning and we were in the gym for the usual Monday weight session. The mood was good despite our 2-1 defeat away to Oldham at the weekend as we were the better side. The big FA Youth Cup tie against West Brom at Deepdale was approaching, and everyone was bristling with anticipation.

Match: Oldham Athletic U18 v Preston North End U18

Saturday came along and the reigning champions were looking to avenge the 5-0 drumming we gave them earlier in the season. A big shock as I was named in the team again for the second week running! I didn’t expect to be playing but was delighted that I was.

Friday the pros were in as the prepared for the game with Sheffield United and we prepared for the game against Oldham in the first round of the Cup. We had our usual small-sided games. The quality was a lot better than last week, in which it was a bit lacklustre for the first time all season.

Wednesday was a different day. Most of the YT’s were involved with the reserves so there was only me and about 5 or 6 YT’s training. We did a killer weights session in the morning with Geoff. My arms were like cabbage by the end of it, wobbling all over as I tried to lift the bar!

Tuesday morning and we were out with Dave. We did some second ball work while the pros did some testing. Some of the YT’s: Mike, Nathan and Danny were training with the pros so had to do the testing as well. Me and Tommo thought we had got away with it until Jamie and Dean came round with the rest of the YT’s so unfortunately we had to do it.

Everyone was back in on Monday. The pros had a couple of days off due to international duty but they were back in to prepare for a very tough visit to Bramall Lane. We had the normal Monday morning weights and squats and some weights for legs. Once again I was very sore after this.

Match: Preston North End U18 v Accrington Stanley U18

Match day and the nerves were really starting get going. This was my first League match for the youth team against Accrington Stanley. We were all warned not to take Accrington lightly otherwise they would turn us over. Before the match started I was sick with nerves.

Friday’s here and it’s getting closer to the weekend. I’m starting to get nervous now about playing in my first game since the Bolton match. I haven’t had a lot of actual game time and it’s been playing on my mind a bit. While I enjoy training there is no substitute to playing in games and it’s really frustrating to be a sub as a keeper.

On arrival at the training ground the normal weights session was in store for us. The lads who were involved in the reserves trained separately as we did a bit of fitness work before going into some small sided games. The under 16s were in and the trained separately to us with Nick doing some technique work.