Soccer Academy England Trip - Day 9

Friday, March 16 – Trip to Leeds then Game vs. Hull City (English Championship Division Professional Club)

Our 10 a.m. departure came quick for the boys after the long evening at the Manchester City game. Leeds is a great town with 6-7 blocks of pedestrian shopping areas, including an open air market. It used to be the corn trading capital of England and, for that matter, Europe. It's now a huge shopping area for tourists. 

At 4:30 p.m., we boarded our bus for Hull City for a great Friday night game under the lights. Again, we were graciously hosted by the club with the boys enjoying professional changing rooms. Our game was played on their 3G turf field under the lights.

We started out strong in the first 30 minutes with two great goals by Cameron Rohani and Colby Ferguson. During the middle of the game, we had a few breakdowns in the back and a big smart Hull City striker took advantage of our breakdowns. Dylan Faber came up big with three breakaway saves, but our back never adjusted and within 15 minutes it was even at 2-2. 

At the half, I tore into the back line because it was not physical breakdowns, but mental. We knew we wanted to leave England with another win so we had to work harder. The second half, our players stepped it up. Nedian got the winning goal by following up a rip off the cross bar by Cameron Rohani.

Returning to the hotel with our second win made packing that night easier. We were ready for an 8 a.m. Saturday departure back to London for the Fulham vs. Swansea City EPL game.