Hello and welcome to my last diary feature from the KNVB training base in Holland.

The time here is now drawing to a close and we'll fly back to England early tomorrow morning and start looking forward to our game with Sheffield Wednesday which takes place at Victoria Park on Tuesday.

The final day of training here has been a very physical and demanding one for the players but they have reacted well and shown excellent levels of fitness.

We had intended to start this morning's session at 8am but unfortunately we awoke to thunder and lightning at 7.30am so things had to be knocked back a little.

I think during the trip that the new players have settled in very well and been made extremely welcome by the players in the squad already.

Looking back over the week and I'm very pleased with the training and the matches. The standard of the opposition was high, in that both teams we played have ambitions for promotion to the Dutch Premier Division but I think we could easily have had a draw in both games.

Results are nothing to get excited about or unhappy about at this stage though as we keep saying; the more important aspect is the way we have worked this week and I think we'll start to see the benefits of that when we play our domestic friendlies in the next couple of weeks.

When I return to England I'd be very keen for supporters to start asking their questions again via the website. It was something that I think went well at the end of last season so if you want to get in touch and ask me a question then you can email askchris@hartlepoolunited.co.uk

CT