Greetings bloggers…..welcome to day 3’s exciting update. The day started well for many with an early dip in the pool….(nothing new there) and then down for another fulfilling breakfast. With the late start of today’s game some of the guys took time out to see the sights (the pool again) whilst others took time to catch up on the events of the world by relaxing in front of the tv …..mainly taking in two channels in particular and placing bets on who would come first. The team meeting was interesting to say the least. Having sat through 20 mins of the dullest previous day’s game between the Italians and the Danes we finally managed to find the fast forward button. With the announcement of the team and the fact that we were deemed to be facing weaker opposition meant senior players were rested. Luckily both of them took the decision well and focused solely on building the team morale. Having nearly lost our goalkeeper and inspirational captain Iwan “birth mark” Williams to a vicious shot in the warm up from Owen “did you see my clearance off the line” Brotherton, the team started the game reasonably well with a couple of half chances, but conceded a poor goal after 10 minutes. Roll on the super subs, with a combined age of more than a tutoncarmun the game changed straight away. Firstly Angry man John Collis stroked in a corner (not for the first time today) and then hit a second and a third to put us well in front. Scoring goals certainly suited him, especially as during his stroking antics he decided to roughen up a couple of his own players, grabbing and racially abusing Dougie “the dirty Turk” Young by the throat after the Irish Man squared up to him. We all agreed after the game Dougie “can’t understand a word he’s saying” Young would have had him anyway.  The Ginger Winger then turned his attention onto Tom “I’m a lot younger than I look honestly” Fisher, by swearing at him for no reason. Well the say Red heads have a fiery temper.  As the game progressed more  and more chances were created  including gaining a stroke after Neil “Sir Snore a lot” Potter was ransacked in the D. Up stepped  the man for any high pressured moment Jamie “the Spitter” Westerman. Unfortunately the wee man was feeling generous and tamely flicked the ball straight at the useless keeper. N.B The photo’s on the website prove it to!

I remember it very well as it peed it down throughout! Happy days! Didn't Lewy miss a flick to get us relegated?

After a good night’s sleep and a morning stretch and run for some!!!!! We headed to breakfast to be greeted by cakes and sweets – exactly what every player needs before a big game.

All the way to Italy for a team shop to SPAR which was the exciting point of the morning before an even more interesting team meeting where Naz “sort the food out” Mohammed repeated all tournaments rules for Tony “chopper” Gough’s benefit…

Lunch time – finally we had food! Thanks to Naz “Iv sorted the food” Mohammed. This comprised of pasta and sauce but more than just a fork full which was warmly accepted by the team.

Some more time to chill so rooftop cricket was started. Special thanks to Jon “diamond” Collis for allowing us to use his special suitcase as stumps.

1pm – defence meeting. Lead by Alex “im a midfielder” Keating – some would say this was unsuccessful as we conceded 3 goals (Joe “I scored I scored” Naughlty)

We drew 3-3 (see match report) this is thanks to goals by Joe, Laith and Collis however if Jamie “windmill” Westerman or Adam “where is the goal?” Barker had taken there vital chances it could have been a different story.

Some vital points to make about the game – Neil “should have been a yellow” Potter with his horrendous dump tackle which would have seen him sitting next to Jonny “crazy eyes” Gordon. But not to be outdone Tony “chopper from behind” Gough decided to have a 10 minute rest as well.

After the game we jumped into the freezing plunge pool and then some aqua aerobics with Zoe in the pool.

We are awaiting Mark “Bergkamp” Whatling, who is due to arrive on Friday evening after his 3 day ferry journey (due to his irrational fear of flying and snakes).  In the meantime we turn our attention to the Danish.

We finally arrived in Milan after some minor troubles with Ryanair. Alex Keating decided to bring all his earthly belongings and had to pay £120 excess. Neil Potter and the friendly Ryanair security personnel had a slight disagreement about Neil’s beauty products. Apparently he is beautiful enough (or they were filled with explosives). Among a few of the boys to get stopped and searched was “Welshman” Laith El Khatib, I wonder why they stopped him????

The hotel has exceeded expectations apart from in the catering department where they feel like they are feeding anorexics! However the evening meals highlight of cheesy rice was enjoyed by all.

The evening involved a nice stretch of our legs on the pitch which is only a 15 minute journey from our hotel. On return some of the squad decided to brave the freezing cold plunge pool for recovery purposes. This didn’t last long and was soon replaced by the Jacuzzi. In the following team meeting Naz made it clear to the boys about some of the rules and regulations. Crox was gutted to hear that two yellows mean a game suspension!

The night began with some fun and frolicking on computer games. Resident superhero Iwan ‘flood gates’ Williams showed off his terrorist side as he destroyed Tom Fisher physically and emotionally on the Xbox 360, with self absorbent comments such as “I rule!” littered throughout his gaming play. The Xbox antics also brought to light the lack of ability Chris Gierak has at Fifa Football 2008 as his Cardiff City side lost disappointingly to Fish’s mighty West Bromwich Albion. Joe “Epilpsy is a real condition” Naughalty and Adam “never played for the first’s but blagged my way onto this sweet tour” Barker once again prove the long held belief that students waste way too much time (and my tax money) doing jack all, playing on the Xbox and not enough time on their studies (if you can call sports science a study).

The boys will be going to sleep satisfied with ‘Big Black Santa’ tonight!!!

10-13 April 1998 - Brasschaat, Belgium

It was over 10 years ago now that we ventured back into Europe, after something of an absence. Brasschaat, near Antwerp, in the B Division. Reading were tournament favourites but fortunately not in our group.

The squad was a belnd of youth and experience - of course Lewy was there and a slim looking Neil Potter. Gary Hibbert had done a sterling job at the back for mostof the season and wore the Captain's armband. Chris Banning made his European debut as a fresh-faced teenager. The whiley Robin Hasson and sarcastic Mark Sccot were also in the squad, along with Club stalwarts Mark Eggar and Wayne Robson.

In those days we actually hired a fitness coach come physio - Nick Speakman. He was in the RAF and gave us a good grounding for what was a pretty tough tournament.

We played the hosts in the first game - Dragons. They had a smattering of Belgian internationals in their side and we were not sure what to expect. Well I don't think I touched the ball for the first 15 minutes and we were 4-0 down in a flash. The Dragons played a rotation formation - something we had not experienced in the Sun Life West League. It was like they had 15 players on the pitch and the diminutive forward I was marking even had the audacity to score with a cheeky pan-handle reverse stick shot - which I had never seen before and completely diddled me!

We eventually did break out of our half, not long before half time though! Looking over to Beazo and Naz on the bench, somewhat bemused...help!

Does anyone else remeber that tournment?