Brighton See Off City In Premier League Cup

On the back of the 2-2 draw with West Ham United last week, the Foxes’ chances of progressing into the next round hung in the balance ahead of the kick-off in Crawley but the Development Squad started enthusiastically up front nonetheless.   

Leicester enjoyed a succession of early corners with Conor Wood whipping in menacing crosses from the flanks. First Elliott Moore, the City skipper, went close by dragging his header across goal from six yards before Kairo Mitchell’s close-range effort was then blocked.    

They proved to be costly misses, too, when Bjordal found space in the Foxes area to head a fine Tyler Hornby-Forbes cross beyond Daniel Iversen to give Brighton a precious early lead on a cold evening in Crawley.    

Admiral Muskwe, fresh from scoring a brilliant brace against West Ham last week, then went agonisingly close to scoring a quick-fire equaliser for City but he had to watch as his glanced header, from another Wood corner, drifted inches wide of the far post.   

Steve Beaglehole’s men had Dean Hammond, the former City midfielder who featured 42 times for the Club between 2013-2016, among their ranks to provide cover ahead of the FA Youth Cup quarter final on Wednesday.    

After the restart, Brighton regained the ascendancy again and they went within inches of doubling their lead when Tilley’s low curler was tipped onto the post by Iversen, stretching acrobatically to get a hand to it.   

The hosts did go two up in the 85th minute, giving City little chance to respond, when Tilley smashed it into the roof of the net from just outside the penalty area to book their spot in the next round with 12 points in Group E.   

Major moment  

City’s biggest stumbling block this season, highlighted regularly by Steve Beagelhole and Ben Petty, has been conceding early goals and it came back to haunt them again despite an encouraging start at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.    

The visitors, who knew only a victory would do, enjoyed an industrious opening on the south coast and were looking increasingly likely to break the deadlock with a number of decent forays into the Brighton penalty area.    

Despite their best efforts, it wasn’t to be as Henrik Bjordal was the first to react to an excellent cross from Tyler Hornby-Forbes on the right wing to nod it past Daniel Iversen and leave the Foxes with another gap to bridge in the early exchanges.     

Who impressed?    

Elliott Moore has so often been a rock for the City Under-23s and this clash was no different with the young centre-back winning every ball and commanding his defensive colleagues with maturity.    

The Foxes skipper, a tall and imposing figure at the back, got up well to deny Brighton’s efforts to play it over the backline while he also gave Steve Beaglehole’s men a target from set-plays at the other end of the pitch.    

Moore, who picked up an injury against the Seagulls last year, continues to be a source of reassurance for his team-mates and proved once again why he has been a regular for the Club at Under-23s level this term.    

Who’s next?  

City next welcome Arsenal to Holmes Park on Sunday (12pm kick-off) in Premier League 2 before resuming their Premier League Cup duties with a trip to face Nottingham Forest on Friday 24 February (7pm kick-off).    

Tonight’s result means the Foxes will not be able to qualify for the knockout rounds of the competition whatever the result but will still have pride to play for against local rivals on the banks of the River Trent.

BRIGHTON: Sanchez, Rosenior, White, Dallison, Cox, Hornby-Forbes (Barclay 62), Collar, Towell, J.Davies (Tighe 76), Tilley, Bjordal. 

SUBS NOT USED: Collings, Cadman, Hall. 

GOALS: Bjordal 16, Tilley 85. 

CITY: Iversen, Knight, Kipre, Moore (c), Wood, Miles, Hammond (Uche 56), Watts, Debayo, Muskwe, Mitchell. 

SUBS NOT USED: Templeton, Harrison, Hodby, Bolkiah. 

REFEREE: Craig Hicks