Under-18s score four at Leicester

Four goals in nine second-half minutes blew Leicester City away on Saturday as our Under-18s made sure they’ll be top of the table at Christmas.

After a tough first period ended without score, we came out flying at the start of the second half, finding the spaces among Leicester’s defence and exploiting them ruthlessly through a Troy Parrott brace, a poacher’s finish from Dilan Markanday and Harvey White’s penalty. Goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi later saved his fourth penalty in three Under-18 Premier League matches to maintain his clean sheet as we emerged from the Foxes’ training ground top of the pile and still unbeaten at the half-way stage of the league season, and with momentum on our side ahead of some important cup ties over the next few weeks.

The 4-0 win had started in difficult circumstances as Jeremie Mukendi was carried off on a stretcher just a few minutes in but his team-mates stuck to the game plan in what is always an interesting battle of styles and did him proud with the way they instigated the hosts’ downfall. It wasn’t straightforward in the first half, though, as the Foxes got in our faces at times and made it difficult to put together effective attacking moves. In fact, they had the better chances of the opening 45 minutes but a combination of some wayward finishing and good blocks in the box from Luis Binks, Jubril Okedina and substitute Maxwell Statham kept them out. The fourth member of our back four had our best chance at the other end as Dennis Cirkin made a purposeful run forward from left-back but ended up curling his effort marginally wide with just over half an hour gone.

It was a different story after the break, with Parrott getting us off the mark with a spectacular strike not too dissimilar to his goal in Europe against Inter in the week. He picked out the top corner from the edge of the box, but the build-up was equally eye-catching as skipper Armando Shashoua flicked the ball over the Leicester full-back and exchanged passes with Dilan Markanday before laying off for Parrott to finish on 53 minutes.

A quickfire volley of goals thereafter put us out of sight. Each one arrived at three-minute intervals as, first, Parrott played in Rayan Clarke on the left, his shot was spilled by goalkeeper Oliver Bosworth and Markanday reacted quickest to stab in. Then, just before the hour mark, Cirkin was bundled over in the box and White sent Bosworth the wrong way for 3-0. Leicester were rocked and we duly added a fourth on 62 minutes when Rodel Richards sent Clarke down the left side of the box and he cut back for Parrott to double his tally from close range.

Leicester might have grabbed a consolation on 74 minutes when Oluwayemi dived at the feet of Terrel Pennant and the referee awarded a penalty, but the keeper atoned for his error by keeping up his excellent recent record of saves from the spot, diving low to his left to deny Leicester skipper Luke Thomas. That followed on from one penalty save against Fulham and two against Arsenal in our previous two outings in this competition. The Foxes had a couple of chances late on with Thomas hitting the bar from a free-kick and Oluwayemi denying Shane Flynn at his near post, but our clean sheet remained intact.

Key moment

Parrott’s excellent strike eight minutes after the break got us in front, but it was important that we stayed in the ascendancy and our second goal just three minutes later really knocked the home side’s belief.

Markanday got it, instinctively firing in from close range after keeper Bosworth had spilled Clarke’s effort from the left angle. White’s subsequent penalty and Parrott’s second completed an excellent win.

Coach’s view

Prior to the game, Leicester were the only team in the Under-18 Premier League we were yet to play this season, but Under-18s Coach Matt Wells was pleased with the mentality shown by the players to keep our unbeaten start going and stay top of the league ahead of key matches in the UEFA Youth League, FA Youth Cup and Under-18 Premier League Cup between now and Christmas.

“We’ve shown over the season that we’re capable of scoring goals and winning like this,” he said. “Obviously we all send our best wishes to Jeremie Mukendi after his knee injury early in the game, but after that I was a bit disappointed with the first half and then how we managed the game in the last 15 minutes when we lost a little bit of control, although it’s that time of the season where maybe a bit of fatigue kicks in and it’s mentally tough for the boys, so I’m really pleased with the mentality we showed, especially in the second half. We weren’t dynamic enough in the first half, we played into their hands a bit and we looked uncertain of where the space was, but we managed to unlock our attacking verve after half-time and went and scored four goals.

“You always know what it’s going to be like when you come away to a place like Leicester – it was tough, there were a lot of set-pieces and second balls so I’m really pleased with the way we stood up to that, managed to impose our way of playing and scored four good goals. That’s now the half-way cycle of the league and it’s nice to be unbeaten with nine wins and two draws in that time, but we’ve got some massive cup games coming up in different competitions now so we need to continue the same good form and intensity.”