He’d just overseen a spirited performance from his young squad against Spanish third-tier side Algeciras CF, one which had seen them deal with all manner of challenges – from battling through a scrappy spell amid taunting howls and whistles from the near 1,000-strong partisan home crowd at the end of the first period to conceding directly from a wide set-piece after the break, from recapturing our attacking rhythm and deservedly equalising later in the contest to winning an energy-sapping penalty shootout on an already sweltering evening in the port city overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar.
It was a great pre-season test against senior opponents and one that came at the end of a gruelling week’s training at a picturesque resort in nearby Cadiz.
For Wayne, there was a lot to ponder as dusk turned into night on the continent.
“It was a very good experience for our young players to come here and play in a stadium like this which was hostile at times – they dealt with it very well,” he said.
“It’s been a tough week – really tough. Not only with the intensity but also the climate, which has been extremely warm. It’s not just about the training – the players have spent time in each other’s company and it’s important that that happens because it builds and develops teams and you get connections. It’s nice to see the players develop. We’ve got some individuals that are new to this group, so it’s been nice to spend some time in each other’s company. It accelerates connections and relationships and I think we’ve done that this week.”
While Wayne spoke, goalscorer Miracle Adewole sprinted widths of the pitch in near-darkness as part of his warm-down, while captain Alfie Dorrington took receipt of the Virgen de la Palma Trophy in recognition of the team’s triumph, promptly presenting it to 17-year-old goalkeeper Farren Doran whose heroics in the penalty shootout, where he saved three of the hosts’ spot-kicks on his first appearance at Under-21 level, saw the team emerge victorious.
The game itself had finished in bad light – temperatures were nearing 40 degrees with the humidity and haze at kick-off but with only the floodlights at one end of the pitch working in the second period as dusk enveloped the stadium, the players were presented with an extra visual challenge in the closing stages of the game. Needless to say, the penalties were taken at the illuminated end, with many local youngsters waving and whistling from behind the goal – yet another test of character for our lads.
“In the opening stages we looked bright with some good passages of play,” assessed Wayne. “They couldn’t get out of their half because our press was really good, we were sustaining pressure but then towards the end of the first half we were penalised for some challenges that were deemed to have crossed the line a little bit, that riled the crowd, shifted the momentum slightly and took us out of our rhythm. I said to the players at half-time that you have to be really careful, especially when you come to European clubs, that you make sure you don’t give them anything that could swing the game into their favour or anything that shifts momentum.
“I think that happened for a bit, but in probably the latter part of the second half we started to get a grip of the game. I thought our second goal was onside (Reiss Elliott-Parris had somewhat harshly had an effort ruled out for offside shortly after Adewole’s equaliser), but it goes to penalties and you have young players stepping up – it’s a moment for them, isn’t it? Some of them seized that moment and did very well.”
Earlier on Saturday, back at the training resort some 50 kilometres away, just prior to the team coach embarking on a long and winding 45-minute journey down steep, narrow roads and through some wonderful scenery en route to the stadium, Wayne had held his usual pre-match team meeting. With a number of regular Under-21 campaigners away on the first team tour of New Zealand and Australia and some youngsters stepping up from the Under-18s, there were several fresh faces in the group and as he addressed them, the 54-year-old spoke about making memories.
“I thought the young players acquitted themselves excellently, coming into a new environment, not only in terms of the match but all week,” he continued. “I said to the players before the game that football is about moments, they’re the things that you’ll remember throughout your career, and I think one or two of them had moments tonight. Farren Doran… I’m very pleased for him, he’s trained very well all week, he deserved his chance to come in and play and he saved three penalties which was fantastic, then young Cam Thomas has come on, he’s taken the last penalty and he’s stepped up and dispatched it very well, so I’m really pleased for all the young players – we had a lot of them on show tonight. I’m pleased for the staff, too. It’s been a really good week, it’s been hard work, the players have been really committed, we’ve had a lot of intense training sessions and they’ve come through them really well.”
Having arrived via Gibraltar’s tiny airport last week, the squad stayed and held their daily training sessions in a hilly area of Andalusia, at a golf and spa facility occupying high ground that was fully exposed to the baking sunshine. Appearing almost like a mini village set on multiple levels with white buildings and orange tiled floors, surrounded by beautiful golf fairways and overlooking fields of brown, yellow and green for miles around, the venue had character and served an important purpose – to take the players out of their comfort zone and into unfamiliar surroundings.
The walk from the main part of the complex that housed the residence patios to the training pitches took about six minutes along a winding footway adjacent to the first tee of the golf course, with the 362-metre fairway stretching tightly past some lakes on the left and away in front of you as far as the eye could see. You’d need a good line to play it – as some of the travelling party did during a rare few hours of downtime on Thursday. As you turned right through a small woodland clearing, the training pitches appeared in front of you on lower ground, with a modern gym facility with a fully-opening glass façade overlooking them.
It was a well-trodden route over the course of the week, with players sometimes heading out there to train or use the gym two or three times a day before plotting their way back, each time drenched in sweat. The place was abuzz with support staff ensuring the boys had everything they needed to perform – something that was clearly appreciated by them all. As is routine for Wayne and the staff, no detail was left unaddressed, right down to a key reminder sent out on the WhatsApp group just before departure for the game on Saturday from the team nutritionist, who underlined the importance of proper hydration and fuelling with the potential for some young athletes to lose up to two kilograms of fluids during an intense match in 30-plus degree heat. These are young professional players – they knew that anyway – but the reminder is an illustration of the care and attention our staff give to the players around the clock in order to help them optimise their performance levels.
“We emphasise the point that we’re here to work,” added Wayne as he summarised the week. “We’ve sometimes trained double and triple sessions during the week and it was only right that we had a small amount of downtime and rest – some of the group enjoyed a round of golf on Thursday. But the emphasis is that we’re here to work and that’s what they did. I’m really pleased because it’s been a tough week but a purposeful and worthwhile trip for us all.”