Three second-half goals gave our hard-working Under-18s maximum points at Leicester City on Saturday.
Having battled through a tough first half, our patience paid off when captain Tye Hall managed to find the net from a congested area of the pitch 11 minutes after the restart and from there we pushed on to win comfortably, Malachi Hardy heading home his first goal of the season after a short corner routine before Reiss Elliott-Parris added a third from the penalty spot.
The 3-0 victory yielded our 10th clean sheet of the season in the Under-18 Premier League and stretched our unbeaten run in the division into an 11th game. Chelsea’s late turnaround at home to Reading, though, meant it’s as you were at the top, as we head into the international break four points ahead of the Blues having played two games more.
Miracle Adewole fired wide at the back post while Elliott-Parris’ effort was blocked after a Jamel Beggs break-away as we squandered a couple of early opportunities at the Foxes’ training ground, but the after-effects of a taxing battle with our title rivals in midweek perhaps showed in parts of the first period as we struggled to take control of the game and found ourselves on the receiving end of a handful of Leicester attempts in the run-up to half-time, Alpha Diallo’s header from a corner cleared off the line by Hall and Luqman Aideed’s angled drive from distance creeping wide before goalkeeper Dylan Thompson twice denied Joseph Colangelo-Allen with a pair of sharp saves.
We introduced George Feeney and Ronny Moncur into midfield at half-time and both helped us to take the upper hand in the contest, the latter involved in our first and third goals. The breakthrough came on 56 minutes when captain Hall exchanged passes with Moncur at the edge of the box while surrounded by Leicester bodies before planting a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.
Elliott-Parris had a penalty appeal waved away after racing onto Harry Byrne’s excellent long ball down the left while Adewole’s long-range strike was just touched over before we doubled our lead on the 70-minute mark, Hardy steering a precision header inside the far post from Byrne’s delivery in the wake of a short corner.
Thompson denied Leicester substitute Harry Jacklin at his near post while Oliver Boast couldn’t convert Adewole’s driven ball across goal in the middle of the box at the other end, but we made sure of the win 13 minutes from time when Elliott-Parris netted from the spot after a foul on Moncur, goalkeeper Leo Stretton diving the right way but unable to keep it out.
‘We looked in control in the second half’
Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr felt we were able to get more of a foothold in the game after the interval: “It was a tough game in the first half, Leicester were really competitive and we didn’t have as much control of the whole half as we’d have liked,” he reflected. “I think we started the first half well and probably finished it well, but there was a spell of maybe 20 minutes in that period where we struggled, but credit to the group, we managed to ride that out and go in at half-time at 0-0, and that allowed us to make some changes and freshen up the legs after a tough game on Tuesday.
“I think we looked in a lot of control in the second half – I don’t think there were too many chances for them, Dylan made one save but other than that, large spells of the game were in the middle third or their final third. There were lots of pleasing bits from that and also from the whole squad in terms of churning out a difficult week playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday, to the point that they’ve managed to put themselves in a good position leading into the international break.”
We return to action at this level away to West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday 7 April (12pm UK).