We were quick out of the blocks and opened the scoring after just six minutes with Muslika in the right place to fire home on the third attempt. Leon Myrtaj's initial effort was parried away at the near post by Leo Stretton but the ball fell to Thomas inside the box and, although he scuffed his shot, it picked out Muslika in a central position in the area and he made no mistake to break the deadlock early on. The Foxes responded well and searched for an instant response as, after Lorenz Hutchinson and Maxwell Adedeji saw their shots blocked in quick succession, Riley Carr fired wide at the near post from the right side of the box.
Mircale Adewole dragged his left-footed strike wide after a charging run into the box before we were indebted to some vital blocks by Thomas. First, he was in the right place to clear a low cross from Joseph Corden on the line, which subsequently set us on a counter that saw Jamel Beggs fire wide from the edge of the box, and a minute later, the defender threw his body on the line to deny Bismark Owusu from just inside the area to maintain our one-goal advantage. As the rain began to fall, the final quarter of the first period turned into an end-to-end contest with the visitors carving out the best opportunity three minutes before the break, but Hutchinson’s teasing low ball across the face of the goal was just too far in front of the sliding Corden.
Looking for a way back into the game, the away side made a positive start after the restart as Carr, who was a constant threat on the right, struck wide after a corner routine found him on the edge of the box before Thompson was called into action to deny Joseph Colangelo-Allen at his near post. Despite the pressure piling on from Leicester, we continued to pose a threat at the other end, Tye Hall’s short free-kick routine testing Stretton following a big deflection in the process. Then, on 79 minutes, we were given a huge opportunity to double our advantage when we were awarded an indirect free-kick inside the visitors’ box for a back-pass but, with 10 players on the line, they were able to block Beggs’ shot.
That resulted in some nervy closing stages for our youngsters as Leicester ramped up the pressure for an equaliser but, once again, we should have extended our advantage when Adewole raced through on goal with the keeper, he poked the ball past Stretton but could only send it wide of the target. Thompson then produced a crucial save with three minutes left, saving well with his feet to keep out Carr’s effort from a tight angle on the right side of the box. Following a strong defensive display, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, we wrapped up the victory when substitute Moncur advanced into the box, showed plenty of determination to beat the Leicester defenders to the ball before blasting into the back of the net to make sure of a hard-earned win.
‘The go-again attitude from the players was certainly required’
Under-18s Assistant Coach Bradley Allen was delighted with the resilience shown by the players to claim maximum points amidst a gruelling period of matches.
“It was a hard-fought victory off the back of a really heavy games schedule that our Academy players are working through at the moment – the go-again attitude was certainly required against a very competitive Leicester team and to come through with a win and a clean sheet was very pleasing,” he said.
“When you consider that a good number of players were featuring out in Monaco on Wednesday in the UEFA Youth League… to return, prepare and go up against a Leicester team that have won five on the bounce and are flying high in the Under-18 Premier League was excellent. A number of individuals contributed, as did the subs at key moments. The joined-up team work ethic was fantastic, there were moments where we had to withstand Leicester’s pressure – they sometimes worked some dangerous attacking moments – but we stood firm, hung in there and then Ronny Moncur popped up with a late goal that capped an excellent victory.
“Take Reiss Elliott-Parris for example with his role as a number nine, holding up play, pressing and running in behind… the way he worked at the top end of the pitch epitomised the display of many others, so all in all it was a good day and as we said afterwards, we’ve now got to be ready to go again on Tuesday, whether that’s with the Under-21s or in an important final group game in the Under-17 Premier League Cup at West Ham.”