Beaglehole: Cheltenham Defeat A Massive Learning Curve

- Steve Beaglehole says the Leicester City Development Squad will learn from their 6-1 defeat to Cheltenham Town

- The Foxes exited the Checkatrade Trophy at the second round stage after the reverse at the LCI Rail Stadium

- Bartosz Kapustka got on the scoresheet early on for City but Diego De Girolamo's hat-trick spurred the hosts on

- Beaglehole's men will be looking to Friday's visit of Chelsea in Premier League 2 to get back to winning ways

City lost out to an experienced Robins line-up at the LCI Rail Stadium with a hat-trick by Diego De Girolamo added to by strikes from Daniel O’Shaughnessy, Harry Pell and Amari Morgan-Smith for the League 2 outfit. 

Poland international Bartosz Kapustka scored a fine goal in the 10th minute for the Foxes but Beaglehole’s men lost the ascendency soon after with Cheltenham going on to book a third round tie against Bradford City.

During his post-match briefing with LCFC TV, Beaglehole said: “My reflections on the Checkatrade Trophy competition as a whole is that it has been fantastic for us. 

“For us as coaches, our recruitment, our development, it tells us a lot about what we need to have. We spoke before about being solid, we knew they would come at us with long balls, set-plays and good deliveries. 

“We knew they had a good side, a strong side, but we didn’t deal with it. We had a real rally [after the opener]. We looked good on the break and we got a goal back which was a good finish from Bartosz.”

City goalkeeper Ben Hamer was forced off through injury in the 32nd minute and Beaglehole has pointed to that as one potential turning point in the fixture in Gloucestershire.

He added: “Then we had a problem with Ben from a corner, who got an eye problem. We thought he was alright and he carried on. Ben had to come off, though, and we conceded again. 

“Again, the physicality of the play was on show. It was a great finish for their third goal but we gave the ball away and we didn’t win it back. At half-time we talked about winning the second-half and narrowing the scoreline.

“I thought the next goal would be crucial and it went to them. It was a massive learning experience for them.”