It was a fantastic experience for the Under-21 lads to see England beat Wales on Saturday. I’d never been to Old Trafford before and it was a terrific atmosphere.

It was also slightly unusual for me to look down and see my new club manager Mark Hughes in another dug-out, the Wales dug-out!

I’ve not had that much time training with Mark at Blackburn yet but being a former striker himself, there has already been one or two things he’s pointed out.

Mark and Ian Wright were my all-time favourites so it’s unbelievable to be able to work with him every day.

I used to love the Mark Hughes special, those fantastic volleys of his. But just as impressive for me was the way he used to hold the ball up and bring other people into play.

You never used to see him give the ball way and that’s the part of my game I’m working hardest on because I know at Premiership level, it’s very draining on the team to let the opposition have the ball cheaply.

It was also a good win for the Under-21s against Wales and having been on the bench for Blackburn the previous weekend, I was delighted to play 90 minutes, on my home ground as well.

Azerbaijan will be a different sort of occasion, we arrived at half past one in the morning and it was 18 degrees so I’m sure match conditions will be slightly warmer than Ewood Park and the pitch might not be quite as true!

The manager Peter Taylor likes us to enjoy the time we spent together. There are one or two jokers in the squad like Gary O’Neil and Jermaine Pennant and the gaffer wants us to have a laugh and feel comfortable. He doesn’t want these long away trips to be a chore.

He can have a laugh himself with the team but still has the authority when it’s time to get more serious.

The hotel in Azerbaijan is really nice. The only difficulty is the time delay when we use the mobile phone! It’s a few hours ahead but we’ve been trying to keep to English time while we’re here, which means going to bed late and getting up late.

Coley (Carlton Cole) is injured for this game and Bents (Darren Bent) is having a fitness test I think, so fingers crossed I will be starting again and we get another good result to keep our qualifying campaign on track.

Jon Stead was speaking to Joe Bernstein