Reading first-team stars Femi Azeez, Michael Craig and Tom Holmes were in attendance for Saturday's 2-0 win over Middlesbrough in the PL2 play-offs. Adrian Akande's brace in the second half was enough to earn victory in the round of 16 for Noel Hunt's Under-21s, setting up a quarter-final with Nottingham Forest in the coming week. Over 800 Royals supporters were in attendance at the SCL Stadium, alongside a group of first-team staff to back the youngsters.
Premier League Burnley have taken Reading City teenager Emil Mursalov on trial after sending scouts to Rivermoor this season. 17-year-old Mursalov, educated at the John Madejski Academy, has made 12 first-team appearances for the Cityzens in a memorable campaign which ended in play-off heartache. Burnley, who look set to return to the Championship under Vincent Kompany following a difficult year back in the top flight, sent scouts on multiple occasions to watch the youngster. Manager Simon Johns
The Olympic flame is set to arrive in the French port of Marseille on Wednesday in front of a crowd of up to 150,000 people in a first major test of the hugely ambitious plans for the Paris Games."We are going to do beautiful, grandiose, sober and accessible at the same time," Marseille mayor Benoit Payan promised to AFP ahead of the flame arriving, while recalling how his gritty port city was founded by Greek traders in 600 BC. - 'Beautiful, grandiose' - Over 1,000 other boats will accompany i