Young Foxes’ Winning Finish Pleases Barradell

- Leicester City's Under-18s beat Aston Villa and Fulham to end the season on a high
- The young Foxes may finish fifth in U18 Premier League South after back-to-back victories 
- Coach Adam Barradell discusses the 2021/22 campaign and players' development

Following two successive defeats at LCFC Training Ground, the Foxes youngsters got back on track against the Villans, coming from a goal down to triumph 2-1 in their final home fixture in Seagrave, courtesy of second-half goals from Amani Richards and Logan Briggs.

City made it two from two by defeating Fulham by the same scoreline on Saturday, again recovering from an early setback to take all three points in west London. Richards was on target once more, before Chris Popov struck the winner on the hour-mark.

“We performed well throughout the course of the game against Fulham on Saturday,” Barradell commented post-match. “Probably not as well as we did in the semi-final against them, but it was a pleasing way to finish the season off.

“We’ve played Aston Villa the week before and I thought we were excellent in the second half against Villa. Our style of play, our composure, our competitiveness individually and collectively, the boys were brilliant.

“Throughout the season we’ve seen the boys hit those performance levels consistently, more in the first half of the season than in the second half, but overall, it’s a nice way to end with those two games.”

For City’s coach, it represents a fine finish to a largely positive campaign, which could end in fifth place, on 47 points from their 26 matches U18 Premier League South matches, while also reaching the FA Youth Cup Quarter-Finals and the last-four of the U18 Premier League Cup.

He added: “Ultimately it is the development of the individuals and about getting those boys into the Under-23s. Like I’ve said all year, we measure the season on the players’ development. But we want to be competitive in every competition we play in.

“We’ve done well in both cup competitions, gone to the latter stages, we’ve been really competitive in the league this year and also implemented a real good style of play in and out of possession, with and without the ball. So, we’re not too disappointed with the league position, but we’d like to finish higher, that’s the aim.”