I was able to get an extra session in with Derry before my trial really begins next week. When I first arrived into Derry, my host Greg McKeever took me on a little tour of the city and visited The Brandywell, Derry’s Stadium and training ground. I was introduced to manager Kenny Shiels. Shiels asked if I could come in before next week and Thursday worked, so here I was getting in an extra session.

I arrived at the ground and went into the managers office where I met the strength and conditioning coach Pearce Lafferty. Discussion took place about my physical condition, which is not far off peak fitness due to my extensive training that I have done in the last 4 weeks prior to traveling to Ireland. Lafferty then took me down to the locker room and introduced me to the players.

The Derry environment was professional, it was well set up, the players were welcoming, and the training was structured. At 9am we headed across to the hall to foam roll, stretch and do mobility exercises. After about 30 minutes we headed back to the locker room to prepare for training. Boots on and out onto the field. I was given a heart rate monitor and a GPS system which would allow them to track my movements, speeds, output etc. It was a damp training session with continuous dribble which made the surface slick. After some plyometric work and passing drills it was into possession and small sided games. I once again played confidently and consistently, however I had to adjust to the style of play and the players I am now surrounded by. The mentality is completely different to his previous teams. Players have football brains and they understand each and every purposeful move and pass made. This can only be beneficial to my game and will allow me to develop more as a player. I came out of the session happy with my performance although I am aware of some areas that I can tidy up on in the coming weeks on trial.

The players were given about an hours break to travel across the river to the team gym. Lafferty then took the players through a work out in which he wanted to fatigue the players to see the response he got from the players in the game tomorrow. I felt the workout was good with my body still feeling strong from the work I put in prior to my travels. The only problem I incurred was mathematically now having to change from pounds to kilograms with my weights.

Day one with Derry City was now in the books and it was a good beginning to a long few weeks with the team.