‘A Different Challenge’ – McSweeney On Coventry Stalemate
- Leicester City’s Development Squad claimed a 2-2 draw with Coventry City on Friday
- The Foxes are now second in Premier League Cup Group B, above Coventry on goal difference
- Coach Leon McSweeney reflected on events at Your Co-op Community Stadium
- Harvey Godsmark-Ford and Josh King were among the goals
The young Foxes twice came from behind to claim a share of the spoils in the Group B encounter, with Harvey Godsmark-Ford cancelling out Charlie Finney’s opener, before Josh King’s injury-time leveller.
In testing conditions at Your Co-op Community Stadium, Leicester had to battle away, especially after Aidan Dausch converted a penalty shortly after the break.
An attritional encounter, with more direct play from the Sky Blues, Leicester managed to establish some control in the closing stages before striking late on.
“I thought it was just a very scrappy game tonight,” Leicester’s coach analysed following full-time on Friday. “Even having the ball in play tonight was probably the lowest it's been all season, so the game was really stop start, especially when they scored the goals.
“It was difficult to get a rhythm into it, but I thought it was a different challenge for my guys tonight compared to what they faced on Tuesday. And credit to them for digging in and staying with it, fighting for each other. They knew that another chance would come and thankfully, it did for us and we came away with a draw.
“That's the beauty of playing different people and then playing in different competitions, you get different challenges. I thought, on the whole, the pitch was difficult. I don't want to make excuses because it was the same for both teams, but we try and play a certain way.
“Conditions probably weren't conducive to that. I thought we started really well, but then the same messages from Tuesday night for me in terms of that ruthlessness to defend the box.
“I thought we gave the opposition two cheap goals, obviously the first goal and then the penalty for the second. It just sets you back when you're giving away cheap goals like that. We have to work really hard then to get back in the game.
“It was a lovely crafted goal for the equaliser and we had opportunities similar in the first half. It was just the lack of quality. Maybe it was the detail on the touch after the ball through, it just killed the momentum of the attack and that was the message tonight going into the game.
“It was to look after the basics because tonight is about the basics. You get the basics right; you win the game. And it took us a long while really to get the basics right and thankfully, we got it right when it mattered to get a 2-2 draw.”
Showing great character to come from behind twice and earn a point, it puts Leicester second in the group table, in a strong position to qualify for the knockout stages with three games left to play, with McSweeney hoping the team can learn from the errors which led to conceding.
The 41-year-old explained: “That's what development football is all about and to make the right kind of mistakes.
“If we make mistakes, the first goal, we're trying to play from the back, it gets intercepted, they score. That's fine. As long as our lads were making those mistakes here rather than progressing on, and it's affecting them in senior football.
'Difficult To Get A Rhythm'
Coach Leon McSweeney's reflections on a 2-2 draw with Coventry City in the Premier League Cup.
“That is what this whole programme is about and my job as a coach and our job as staff is to make sure that the guys learn quickly from it because it is an unforgiving industry and in order to progress, you need to limit those mistakes in the game.
“But credit to the guys, they tried to play in the right way, they did try with the double pivot and then try and get it through to the eight. It was just probably, I would say, the detail on those key moments, whether it be the final pass or the touch.
“I thought once we got the equaliser from the set piece in the first half, that would be the springboard to go on and take control of the game, and we did, possession wise. I think we dominated the ball and then in the second half, because we conceded, we chased the game, a bit like Tuesday night. It was very similar, to be honest.
“But we found some great advantages by playing the diagonal to the wide men and we just kept knocking at the door, making them defend, which we didn't probably do on Tuesday, we were getting the ball in the box and if you knock at the door enough times, someone will answer. Josh King popped up with the equaliser, so it was good. That’s the pleasing thing for me, we take loads of positives.”