Pre-Season Training Camp - Day 4 - Wednesday 8^th July 2009

Day 3 merged in to day 4 for me as I returned from the town after midnight and ran in to a young man on reception called David, who the manager had pointed out to me to be the man who may resolve my wi-fi problems. I hadn't run into him before as he was working the ghost shift this week from midnight to 8am.

I explained my problem to him and he couldn't understand why I was having such trouble. He agreed that he would have a look at trying to help me launch myself into cyberspace so I toddled off to my room to collect my laptop. I set my laptop up on the reception counter and he nipped in to the back office and did something and then asked me to log on. I was as confident that it wouldn't work as he was that it would, and I did toy with the idea have having a little flutter with him but thought better of it.

I was preparing to be really childish and say that I told you so when up popped the Dale home page, much to my surprise. David had a big grin on his face and was probably wishing he had had a bet with me. I think it turned out that all that was needed was that the hotel wi-fi router needed resetting. When I think of the hours I've messed about with it, I think I've shown remarkable patience in not throwing it through the window. So it's a big thank you to David for solving the problem.

Having got the internet connection sorted out all that remained was for me to finish typing day 3 and believe me day three did roll in to day 4 as I eventually climbed in to bed at 2am. I think I only managed a couple of pages of my book before my eyelids slammed shut.

I didn't feel like starting day four and the old bones were rejecting the brains instructions to get out of bed. Eventually I did manage to get up and a cold shower got the old body moving. Fortunately it was match day and the Gaffer had given the lads a little lie in until around 9am and they were due to report to the training ground for 10.30.

Now about 25 years ago on this very day a certain Mrs Rundle gave birth to a little baby boy and decided to call him Adam (or Runs as he is now affectionately called by the players). Yes it was Adams birthday and I'm pretty sure he would have preferred to be spending his birthday somewhere else rather than running round a training ground under the blistering sun. I had thought of trying to make it a bit special for him by sticking a candle in his croissant and singing happy birthday to him but I couldn't find a candle.

I thought the training session would be about an hour long with the match later in the day, and that it would be a gentle run through with some tactics and some set pieces. It was all of that and a whole lot more and the session ran on well past the two hour mark.

First of all there was the normal warming up exercises and these were conducted by Flicker. The lads then had the famous money circle where if you give the ball away to the two players in the middle you lose a life and the first to lose three lives has to pay 5 euro.

I noticed a couple of players lose two lives and then the other players start to target them and Callum Byrne was one such player who was on the end of some very strong passes.

No favours were given to the birthday boy and the Gaffer even suggested that the birthday boy should pay double if he lost. It was in fact the Gaffer himself who ended up paying the 5 euros.

The Gaffer took some players off to do some work with them and I stayed to watch Flicker work with a group of nine players on a pitch marked out at about 30 meters by 20 meters. At both ends there were two square zones, where two players were protected from being tackled. In the open zone there was one player who was neutral and he played for the team in possession of the ball, Ciaran Toner was this man. The red team had Craig Dawson, Marcus Holness, Chris Brown and John Shaw, while the yellow team had the birthday boy, Callum Byrne and Kallum Higginbotham and Nathan Woolfe.

It seemed to be about possession and movement and two players from each team were in the middle competing against two players from the other team. The other players were in zones and could be used to retain possession and the neutral player was available to the team in possession.

The high energy sessions were only 90 seconds at a time but that is a long time at pace and in this heat. The zone players were swapped around and there were variations of the exercise with players moving in and out of zones to increase the pace of the game. The Gaffer finished his session just as Chris Brown did a couple of little moves that I can only describe as "showboating", it was very good and certainly impressed the Gaffer and Flicker, and me for that matter.

The session was finished with the dreaded ice baths and our pre match meal was set for 2.30pm. The lads were given the afternoon as recovery time and it was strictly refuel at lunchtime and absolute recovery in the afternoon and finally report to reception for 5pm for the trip to La Carla for the Peterborough match. The starting eleven had been informed and they were instructed to get rubs and taped up from 4pm.

Now I had my internet up and running I was as happy as Larry and after lunch I disappeared back in to cyberspace, firstly to get day 3 emailed back to the club, secondly to check the test score and finally to catch up on what I'd missed having been disconnected for 3 days.

It was soon time to prepare the kit and equipment to take to the match. I had asked the hotel to prepare some packed lunches as the game would finish quite late and we wouldn't be back for dinner, I guess that would make them packed dinners that we would have for supper.

Subject to us not running in to the same traffic problems that I had experienced the previous day, the journey to La Carla resort should take about 45 minutes. I followed in the car as it is quite handy to have at this venue because the car park is about 300 foot above the pitch and dressing rooms and the car comes in handy transporting the kit and equipment.

The Peterborough team arrived soon after us and the Gaffer and Flicker met up with Darren Fergusson to exchange pleasantries. Now for some reason there was no referee and the Gaffer had a failed attempt at suggesting I should referee the match. I was saved by Andy Dibble who is now the goalkeeping coach at Peterborough, who had been brow beaten in to taking up the whistle. Guy Proctor was nominated to do one line and one of their guys acted as the other assistant (more about that later).

Without an official referee the game took a more relaxed approach and agreements between the two management team changed the two halves to four quarters. It was more like a training match, which I think suited both managers and both teams.

A few Dale supporters had made their way out to the resort to see the first 'competitive' fixture of the pre-season schedule. They made their way to the grass bank overlooking the pitch and were able to get a close view of the players going through the warm up routine in a shaded corner of the pitch.

The starting line up for the Dale was Kenny Arthur in goal, a back four of Scott Wiseman, Tom Kennedy, Nathan Stanton and Rory McArdle. The midfield was Will Buckley, Gary Jones, Jason Kennedy and Joe Thompson with Chris Dagnall and Adam Le Fondre up front.

The first quarter was quite entertaining and swung from end to end, and Joe Thompson had shown very well down the right for me. I also thought both sides showed good possession and moved the ball about well. With a time out called by Mr Dibble in the middle both managers used the break to issue some instructions and the Gaffer made the following changes. Craig Dawson came on for Rory McArdle and Kallum Higginbotham came on for Chris Dagnall with Kallum going out right Joe Thompson moved up front.

Unfortunately the changes in personnel on both sides brought about a change to the scoreboard with Dominic Green given just enough time to curl the ball inside the far post to give the Posh a one goal advantage in the 34^th minute.

Dale's best chance of the half came when Chris Brown put a ball in behind the Peterborough defence and Will Buckley was only inches away from prodding the ball past a very alert Posh keeper.

The second half brought about quite a lot of changes and this was the starting eleven for the second half (third quarter) - Kenny Arthur remained in goal. Chris Brown, Marcus Holness, Rory McArdle and Craig Dawson at the back. Ciaran Toner was introduced in to midfield alongside Jason Kennedy with Adam Rundle and Nathan Woolfe working the flanks. Jon Shaw and Chris Dagnall were up front.

The birthday boy was doing very well down the right hand side and was regularly getting in to the opposing box. Arguably he might have done a little better with a chance that came to him a little bit too quickly. Nathan Woolfe was also doing well down his side of the pitch and he appeared to fit in to the side very well.

For the fourth quarter of the game Matt Edwards came on in goal for Kenny Arthur. Gary Jones returned to replace Jason Kennedy and Kallum Higginbotham came back on for Adam Rundle. Nathan Woolfe continued to show well and grew in confidence as the half progressed and he was bold enough to have a couple of long range efforts that may have gone high but were full of intent.

With the game entering the final 10 minutes Peterborough increased their lead when Sean Batley was first to get on the end of a long ball and edge out Marcus Holness, and was able to lob the advancing Matt Edwards.

There had been quite a number of changes throughout the game and it was difficult to keep track of all the comings and goings, but one arrival didn't pass me by and that was when the evergreen David Flitcroft made an appearance at left back replacing Craig Dawson.

I didn't see the board go up but I'm absolutely certain that if it had a certain Mr Dibble would have told them to put the darn thing back down as there was no way that he was adding anything in, in fact I think he took it off at the end of each quarter and had it been me in the middle I would have done exactly the same.

Now let me return to that biased assistant referee and I don't want this to appear like sour grapes, make no mistake I am a bad loser. Guy Proctor is a bad cheat, what he was doing flagging our players offside for I'll never know. Having said that at least Guy knew the offside law unlike the bloke on the other side who hadn't got a clue. I'm convinced that we lost this game because of him. What he gave those two line-outs and a scrum against us for I'll never know.

Seriously though, I think both managers were happy with such a competitive work out given both teams have only been back in training for a week, and as Guy explained to me earlier in the day, pre-season preparations last for about 35 days and we are only seven days in to the programme.

After the game it was shower and supper and back on the coach. I managed to lose the coach on the way back and consequently got myself lost, I ended up taking a bit of a detour and then spotted a town called St Pedro, which i knew was close to where we were staying so I had a bit of a tour round there to get me back on track. I was rather pleased with myself in the end as, having got myself lost, I found my way back without having to ask directions.

It was almost 11pm when I got back to the hotel and the coach had already left, I had the diary to complete before getting back to my book and it seemed to have been a long day already.