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Unable to make the Everton game and on a flying visit home I managed to get my R's fix by watching the Under 13's v their Millwall counterparts, the Under 15's were playing on the next pitch. As we strive for the precious academy status the signs were quite worrying. The Under 13's were physical off the game, Millwall lads bigger and stronger. Technically both sides were very impressive, a lot of passing and moving, nice first touch from most of the youngsters. We went a goal up, on the break with a cool finish by our pacy centre forward (sorry no name, maybe Wayne or Dwayne?) Millwall then took control , they had a couple of twins playing for them that ran the game, one a centre back (Romano) who regularly advanced from his own penalty area to ours brushing challenges aside. As we tired goal after goal saw us 5-1 down at the start of the 4th 20 minute quarter, at which stage our manager threw in the towel. At this stage we had 9 players on the pitch, lack of substitutes and smallish players running themselves into the ground taking its toll. On notable attendee was Dennis Wise, whose son played in an attacking midfield role on the left. After a couple of good early touchs he looked very ordinary, his father showed little interest and even turned down the request for photos. A truely horrible "little" man. The under 15's won (I think) 2-0, from what I gather against the run of play. They looked an altogether more organised and resourced unit, even down to the pitch side tactics board. To sum up, I feel that a lot of work has to be done at this level, small touches like no shirt numbers were also noticabe. At least the afternoon performance gave me some room for optimism. You Rrrrrrrssssss.