All To Play For, Says McSweeney
- Northampton Town are up next for the Leicester City Under-21s at Sixfields tonight
- It’s a 7pm GMT kick-off in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy group stage
- The young Foxes saw off Aston Villa in Premier League 2 on Friday
- Under-21s coach Leon McSweeney gave his lowdown on the victory
The Foxes head into matchday two of the group stage having beaten Aston Villa 3-1 in Premier League 2 on Friday, with goals from Jeremy Monga, Louis Page and Henry Cartwright sealing a convincing victory at LCFC Training Ground.
Praising the group’s attitude and application, City’s coach felt it was a very encouraging performance from the Under-21s in terms of the attacking display, while also showing their defensive capabilities.
“They did everything that we asked them to do,” McSweeney said after full-time in Seagrave. “We wanted to expose Aston Villa’s defensive line and we did it excellently and scored three great goals off the back of doing it. Some individual brilliance from Jeremy for the second goal to pull it back for Louis Page, another first-year scholar, who finished.
“The third goal was getting Jahmari [Lindsay] in behind for the penalty and that was really pleasing. We had other opportunities to make the scoreline greater than we did in that opening 25 minutes.
“We had a lovely control in the middle of the pitch and we got players on the ball in key areas. It shows what we’re capable of. We will hurt any team and that’s what I see on the training ground day in, day out. It’s great when you see it brought to the pitch.
“But credit to Aston Villa. They are a very good side going forward. They regrouped and rallied and upped the intensity of their press to put us under severe pressure in our half. They got a foothold in the game.
“We answered the questions they posed to us in terms of how we defended the box. I thought we defended it resolutely, won key headers, made key blocks and when Stevie [Bausor] was asked, he made big saves, which is his job.
“It was brave to put bodies on the line to protect the goal. To a man, everyone played a part in the win. If the attitude is right from young players, you’re never let down as a coach.”
Moving on to the EFL Trophy, Leicester require three points at Sixfields Stadium to have a chance of progressing into the knockout stages, having been defeated by Burton Albion. Also an opportunity to continue their winning streak,
The 41-year-old added: “I always say with young players that winning is important for confidence and belief and that’s what they’ll get from the game and hopefully we can use it as a stepping stone to really focus in on Tuesday and go there with a positive mentality to get a result.
“It’s a different challenge and a must win game in terms of how the results have gone so far. It’s all to play for and exciting times.
“It’s hugely important that they get that exposure to first team environments, to see the different pressure in terms of getting three points or getting through to the next round of the cup.
“Seeing what senior professionals do and how they prepare and how they execute on the pitch, it’s only going to benefit them and it’s very fortunate that we have first team staff that have dipped into the Academy and given them exposure on the training pitch and brought them on to sample the senior game day. They see that the pathway is there for them at the Football Club.”