U19s Report: Leicester City 2 Club Brugge 3

- The Foxes found themselves 3-0 down on the hour-mark but mounted a determined comeback

- Admiral Muskwe and Calvin Ughelumba strikes opened the door for City to get back into the clash

- Brugge emerged from Belvoir Drive on Tuesday afternoon with a hard-fought three points in Group G 

Leicester City Under-19s succumbed to a narrow 3-2 defeat despite a spirited second half comeback against Club Brugge in the UEFA Youth League on Tuesday.

The Foxes knew victory was crucial going into the clash at Belvoir Drive after picking up a solitary victory in their opening four matches in Group G, a 3-2 home success against Copenhagen in October. 

A double from Dennis van Vaerenbergh in the opening 45 minutes and Joel Ito Singha’s strike shortly after the interval gave City a mountain to climb but they almost scaled it with a thrilling late rally. 

Admiral Muskwe’s neat finish and Calvin Ughelumba’s powerful drive, in the 69th and 71st minutes respectively, gave Steve Beaglehole’s side a chance of snatching a draw late on but it proved to be too tall an order.

The Belgian outfit started brightly and pushed City back in the opening exchanges before Van Vaerenbergh headed inches over the bar from Jellert Van Landschoot’s searching cross. 

Layton Ndukwu was a threat throughout for the Foxes and his industry almost paid off when he found Josh Eppiah’s head from an in-swinging free-kick after 17 minutes. 

Eppiah, however, was unable to get his glancing header on target and Brugge survived an early scare. 

It proved to be costly when, just three minutes later, Van Landschoot and Van Vaerenbergh linked-up well before the latter applied a header to his teammate’s cross to give the visitors the lead at Belvoir Drive. 

City rallied and kept possession well as they settled into the match but they were punished again when Alex Pascanu bundled Ahmed Touba to the floor inside the penalty area. 

Fresh from scoring Brugge’s opener, Van Vaerenbergh riffled his spot-kick into Max Bramley’s top left corner and the Foxes found themselves two goals down at half-time.

The guests extended their advantage even further just before the hour-mark when Ito Singha completed a clinical counterattack by lashing it past Bramley from the left flank. 

Falling three goals behind spurred City into life and Muskwe benefitted from a superb one-two between Harvey Barnes and Faiq Bolkaih to riffle it home and narrow the arrears. 

Within minutes, Beaglehole’s side were within one goal of salvaging a point from the clash when Ughelumba evaded two Brugge defenders before squeezing his shot through a packed penalty area to score the hosts’ second. 

Leicester hurried Brugge in the later stages and could have equalised with just nine minutes remaining. 

Barnes, a thorn in the visitors’ side, galloped down the right flank but Muskwe was unable to apply the required finish which would have secured a precious point. 

As it was, Brugge ran the clock down well and frustrated City in the final moments of the match but Beaglehole can take many positives from the response of his young side against strong opposition.

CITY: Bramley (c), Pascanu, Dewsbury-Hall Templeton 62), Johnson, Thandi-Singh, Ughelumba, Ndukwu, Barnes, Bolkiah, Muskwe, Eppiah (Leshabela 22). 

SUBS NOT USED: Yates, Gruno, Brown, Tee, Fielding. 

GOALS: Muskwe 65, Ughelumba 71. 

CLUB BRUGGE: Teunckens, Schryvers (c), Verburgh, Lemoine, Touba, Lynen, Van Landschoot, Van Vaerenbergh, Ito Singha (Peeters 81), Osei Berkoe, Vleitinck. 

SUBS NOT USED: Gabriel, Karkache, Masangu, Vanhaecke, Baiye, Cornette.

GOALS: Van Vaerenbergh 28, 39 (pen), Ito Singha 53  

REFEREE: Vilhajalmur Thorainsson