Maiden PL2 Win For City's Youngsters At Wolves

Following an impressive maiden outing from the bench last week, striker George Hirst made his first start for the Foxes, while Luke Thomas and Sam Hughes also came in for the visitors.

The first chance of the game arrived in the fourth minute as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall drove at Wolves’ backline and slid it into space for Ali Reghba, but the Irishman’s shot flew high and wide.

City forced three corners inside the opening 10 minutes in Telford, but their first goal in fact came from open play as Hughes bundled his way through midfield and found Hirst in the penalty area.

With a brief moment to locate a pass, the England youth international slotted it into the path of Admiral Muskwe, who converted it neatly into the corner with a side-footed finish past Andreas Söndergaard.

It was exactly what Leicester’s Under-23s – and Zimbabwe international, Muskwe, himself - deserved following an expressive and attack-minded start to proceedings at New Bucks Head.

Wales midfielder George Thomas, meanwhile, was proving to be a spark of creativity in the middle for the Foxes, proven again by an ambitious piece of play in the 26th minute. 

His incisive pass found the feet of Muskwe in behind a Wolves back-five, but the 21-year-old’s low drive glanced across goal and behind, while none of his team-mates could get a touch on it either.

It took half-an-hour for Wolves to worry Viktor Johansson in City’s net for the first time, as Bayern Munich II graduate Meritan Shabani played in Taylor Perry, with plenty of time to pick his spot.

However, Johansson, a Sweden Under-21s international in his second season at the Club, was able to cast his arms wide and make the save to protect the Foxes’ slender advantage.

At the other end, City thought they may have made it 2-0 just before the half-time break, when Khanya Leshabela’s shot was parried into Muskwe to finish, but the linesman’s flag was raised.

After the interval, Wolves posed a heightened threat with Shabani and Benny Ashley-Seal both sending efforts wide within the opening 10 minutes of the second period.

With an hour gone, Reghba fizzed a cross from one side of the box to the other, trickling it over the goalmouth, but nobody was there to apply the final touch to a flowing move.

The home side were unfortunate not to establish parity on the scoresheet with 20 to go, meanwhile, as Dion Sanderson found Austin Samuels, whose chip kissed the base of the near post.

While chances were limited in the latter moments, everyone associated with the Club's Development Squad will have been pleased to see the return of Josh Eppiah from an injury in 76th minute.

In five minutes of added time, on the other hand, Hirst was able to cap an impressive full debut for the Under-23s with a confident penalty, doubling City's lead, after being felled in the area.

Major moment… 

“Really on it tonight.” That’s how LCFC TV co-commentator and former Republic of Ireland defender Sean St Ledger described the performance of Admiral Muskwe.

His strike after just 16 minutes provided the perfect springboard for the Foxes, who guarded a slim lead - and later added to it - to get that first win of the season on the board.

Who impressed?

Speaking live on air, Sean St Ledger said: “There have been some fantastic performances. I think you have to look at [Admiral] Muswke for what he did in the first half, but I’d go for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. He has worked hard and put in his best performance of the season so far.”

Where do we stand?

Leicester climb to seventh in Premier League 2 Division 1, above Blackburn Rovers and Wolves, with five points from their opening four fixtures of 2019/20.

Coming up…

City’s youngsters have a two-week break from action before heading to Emirates Stadium to tackle Arsenal on Saturday 14 September (12:30pm BST kick-off).

Please note, just to a clash in date with the Club’s first team fixture against Manchester United at Old Trafford, this fixture will unfortunately not be available on LCFC TV. 

The details…

City: Johansson; Clark (Daley-Campbell 86'), Johnson, Hughes, L. Thomas; G. Thomas (c), Dewsbury-Hall, Leshabela (Wright 80'); Reghba (Eppiah 76'), Hirst, Muskwe

Subs not used: Odunze, Tee