Rotherham United

Rotherham United’s Academy faced Premier League opposition when they took on an African representation of Manchester City’s Academy.

The Millers youngsters hosted a Citizens side that had flown over from Africa at Graham Solly Sports Centre.

Academy Manager Garreth Barker jumped at the opportunity to see the Academy pit their wits against top quality opposition and explained that he couldn’t turn down the call when it came:

“We got a phone call from Manchester City asking if we could help them with a fixture last Wednesday and we accepted because we’re always looking for games to give players game time and try different things,” he enthused.

The fixture offered the youngsters the chance to lock horns with an opposition from off the continent and test themselves against another brand of football:

“We had a really good competitive game against an opposition that offered us a chance to play against some different styles and types of players to take our boys out of their comfort zone.

Barker also believes that the game will be beneficial to his Academy players going forward, as they call upon their resources to analyse the game:

“All in all, it was a very productive game and we’ve got the video footage of that now so we can watch it back and see what we can learn from it."