- Leicester City’s Development Squad drew 1-1 away at Blackburn Rovers Under-23s on Friday
- Tawanda Maswanhise scored the Foxes’ equaliser in the Premier League 2 Division 1 clash in Leyland
- City are in Papa John’s Trophy action on Tuesday, facing Fleetwood Town away (7:45pm kick-off)
- Coach Ben Petty says they will face a challenge against a League 1 side, but backed the team
The Foxes head into the encounter, a 7:45pm kick-off, with two points from their opening two Premier League 2 Division 1 fixtures and now face a third successive away trip, to Highbury Stadium.
Sky Bet League 1 outfit Fleetwood are the opponents, with less than four days for City to recover and then prepare for their first group stage game in the competition.
Petty believes the quick turnaround adds to the difficulty of the challenge awaiting Leicester in the North West, but will also serve to enhance the players’ readiness for similar future scenarios.
“It’s a huge test on Tuesday night, completely different to PL2,” the coach told LCFC TV. “We set ourselves a target before the Man Utd game for our games in August and we’re on track for it at the moment.
“We’re going to regroup over the weekend with a recovery session and we’re going to have to be ready and be on our metal on Tuesday.
“What I’ve said to the players is the importance now of realising this is what it would be like if they were a seasoned pro. They’ve got to go again now on Tuesday night, it’s not just one game a week.
“They have got to recover properly, eat properly, sleep properly and they’ve got to get their energy levels up for Tuesday night because we’ll be under the cosh for long periods against a pro League 1 team.”
Assessing how City have begun the 2021/22 campaign, Petty felt pleased with the mentality and character on show at the County Ground against Blackburn Rovers Under-23s, when they came from a goal down to draw level.
In contrast, Manchester United Under-23s managed two late strikes to ensure the points would also be shared when the Foxes travelled to Leigh Sports Village on the opening day of the season.
He continued: “It’s been a really tough start to the season. We’ve had two really tough away games and I’m delighted for the lads. I think they showed a lot of development from the first game in Manchester when we conceded two late goals.
"We rode it out tonight and I thought we were a bit unfortunate not to nick it at the end. This is a very young squad. Will Alves at 16, he started the game and I thought he did really well. Sammy Braybrooke is still a scholar; a lot of these lads are first-year professionals.
“We’ve really got the age of the squad down, the age of the team down and they are going to be naïve at times, we know that, but as you can see, they are giving us everything at the moment.”
The away side had to hold firm as Blackburn piled on the pressure during several periods of the game, something which the team may have to become accustomed to during Tuesday’s battle with Fleetwood, according to Petty.
“[Blackburn] are a very physical side,” the 44-year-old explained. “They make it very difficult for you and the chances that we created were half chances. We couldn’t quite get the ball in the position to work the goalkeeper enough.
"We floated too many balls into the penalty area. It made it not too difficult for the goalkeeper. But we have been doing quite a lot of work on set plays and sometimes it comes off and sometimes, like tonight, you are a bit frustrated.
“But there were lots of positives there. I thought the back four and Brad [Young] in goal were terrific. We obviously just we need to do a bit more work in that final third and create a bit more, with a bit more quality.
“Overall, the lads were terrific. In the second half, we were a lot more dominant with the ball and I thought we bossed the game for long periods.”
Tawanda Maswanhise’s terrific solo strike shortly before half-time was enough for the visitors to take a point back to Leicester and Petty was full of praise for the winger after full-time.
The coach added: “I thought he was excellent again. He was a real threat. He was playing against one of their first team players that had come back from injury and he caused him a whole load of problems and his goal was absolutely outstanding.
“But that’s the confidence that he’s playing with. He had a brilliant pre-season with the first team squad and he’s come back into the group and he’s shown his quality.”
All times BST.