Cover: Fleetwood A Good Test For Us

- Leicester City’s Development Squad lost out to Fleetwood Town in midweek
- The 4-0 reverse see the Foxes youngsters exit the Bristol Street Motors Trophy
- Academy midfielder Brandon Cover looked back on the tournament as a whole
- It’s Brentford up next in the Premier League Cup on Friday (7pm GMT kick-off)

Leicester City’s youngsters fell to a 4-0 defeat to Sky Bet League 1 outfit Fleetwood Town at Highbury Stadium in their final Group D outing on Tuesday evening, ending hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the EFL Trophy.

Reflecting on the match, which saw the hosts score twice in each half without reply, Cover commented: “It was a very tough game, of course, playing against league opposition. But it's a good test for the boys. Obviously, if we had won, we would have gone through, but it's just not been our night.

“I feel like on any other given occasion three of the goals that they scored out of the four would not have happened. Certain goals should never happen, really, and I think it was just one of those games where everything fell for them. The goals were a bit abnormal, but we move on.”

Playing at right-back, Cover was praised by coach Ben Petty for his performance in an unfamiliar position, showing his adaptability to become more comfortable in the role.

“Wherever the gaffer puts me, I'm going to play,” the 20-year-old explained. “I don't mind playing there for the team. It's a real learning curve for me and I know that's what Enzo [Maresca] wants in the First Team, he wants right-backs who can play in midfield and vice-versa, he has the left-back coming into midfield, so he wants a bit of versatility.

“I'm showing everyone I can do it, but I just need to keep impressing him and hopefully I get called up. I’m putting in loads of practice on the training pitch.”

Games against Wigan Athletic, Tranmere Rovers and Fleetwood offered different tests to what City’s Under-21s face in league fixtures, providing extra motivation for Cover to reach the end goal of becoming a senior professional in the future.

“It's a big step playing against league opposition,” the Academy star added. “Even though in Premier League 2 we play against some top quality, nothing really compares to the men's game, which is obviously where you want to get to.

“At the end of the day, you want to go out and play full-time in the men's league, so it's a real taste of it. I enjoy it. I was thinking about it all week leading up to the game. I was excited to play and unfortunately it didn't go our way.

“Overall, it's a good experience, a big experience for us. That's all we can really take from it, because the more we go on in our career, that's who we're going to play against, rather than Premier League 2. 

“We have to dust ourselves off and go again on Friday against Brentford in the Premier League Cup. I'm sure we'll put it right in the next game.”