Saturday travel Day

This morning the atmosphere at breakfast was great as the players and staff were still on a high from the victory last night.  With about a 2 hour ride ahead of us to UMass we had our team breakfast at 9.30am and straight after we were on the road in our mini van convoy.  Great that we had 4 mini vans as it gives us the flexibility to move around when we want but also gives me a chance to review 4 different styles of mini van should I choose to cave in and get one for the family.

With an early start for me watching Arsenal secure a 2-0 win and stay top of the premier league we were unfortunately on the road driving for the most important game of the day.  For those of you thinking that's the El Clasico, Barcelona v Real Madrid which kicked off at noon you are sadly mistaken as at 12.30pm Southampton played Fulham and a 2-0 win for my Saints saw them rise up the table to third in the league. 

An entertaining van ride with Ranalli, Hinners and Alexandersson (Adewole was in my van also but was fast asleep the whole time) pasted the time away.  With Hinners playing quiz master the 4 of us preceded to put our minds together to answer the numerous and diverse questions that he threw at us.  there was a little language barrier with some of Alexandersson's answers but we quickly overcame that to get the answer right.

When we arrived at Umass a very windy day greeted us at the practice field and after an hour of practice a post session chat with another reminder to the players that last night is in the past and it was time to get our feet back on the ground and mentally get ready for another road war tomorrow.  Back on the vans for a very short trip into Amherst, a nice little town but still 30 minutes from our hotel so it was a quick stop before we finally got to our destination and checked in.  I took advantage of the downtown before dinner to get a work out in and for the 3rd day straight I have run at least 2 miles which doesn't sound like much, and if you looked at my waistline it didn't do much to improve that, but for me its a lot believe me.  A sauna afterwards got me feeling great and ready for our team dinner in downtown Springfield, MA.

Back at the hotel I got a chance to sit down and relax and take in the past few days.  After staying to routine and following my superstitions i am not expecting much for the pregame meal tomorrow as my order for our meal Friday was missing my soup and the sandwich was poor so hopefully i'll get short changed again.  I can take the hunger pains if it brings us another win.

Raise High Moment of the Day
My van ride with the players