- Leicester City’s Development Squad lost 4-2 at Burton Albion in the Papa Johns Trophy
- The Foxes were four down inside 12 minutes at Pirelli Stadium on Tuesday evening
- Tawanda Maswanhise and Ethan Fitzhugh pulled two goals back in quick succession
- Coach Ben Petty admitted that they left themselves with a mountain to climb
A 4-2 reverse at Pirelli Stadium in the opening Papa Johns Trophy game leaves the Foxes youngsters sitting third in Northern Group H, following a first half that included six goals – with City conceding four in the opening quarter of an hour.
Gassan Ahadme's brace, alongside goals from Victor Adeboyejo and Joe Powell, blew Leicester away early on, before Tawanda Maswanhise and Ethan Fitzhugh reduced the arrears with two strikes inside 60 seconds of each other.
Putting their start to one side, which left the visitors with too much to do in the second half, Petty was pleased with the rest of the display against third tier opposition.
The coach told LCFC TV post-match: “Apart from an incredible first 12 minutes, where I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed anything like that in a team that I’ve been involved with, I thought the comeback and the character that we showed was terrific.
“Obviously you can’t start games of football like that, but there’s a lot of learning to go after it and I thought the players were a credit for the next 80 minutes.
“We said at half-time about the importance of the next goal and again at the end of the game we just went back to how poorly we started, because the rest of the game was outstanding and we really put a League 1 side under massive pressure tonight.
“You could see there was a little bit of panic setting in at the end for Burton, but on another night, if we had started correctly, we could have done the business.”
That’s now five goals in five games for Maswanhise, who continues to impress in front of goal, while Fitzhugh bagged his first of the campaign, though Petty was keen to praise the whole squad for their efforts.
The 45-year-old added: “Strikers, when they get in a run like JT (Maswanhise) is on, he knows if he gets a chance, he’s going to hit the target and more often than not, score. He’s in a rich vein of form. His movement is very good and as I said, his work rate has upped massively. It’s up to him now to show his worth.
“Ethan came into the team for Oli Ewing tonight and I thought he did really well. We moved him about a little bit to try and get him on the ball, but he scored a good goal and you could see he’s creative and he gets shots off.
“I’m delighted with all of the players – the fitness levels, the energy levels, the tempo that we played at. We just froze in the first 12 minutes and that’s the learning from tonight. If we can play with that tempo and the same work ethic as the last 80 minutes, then we’ll be a match for anyone.”