U23s Report: Manchester City 1 Leicester City 1

- Yohan Benalouane opened the scoring at Etihad Stadium 

- Cameron Humphreys equalised for Man City with just nine minutes to go 

- Benalouane played 90 minutes as part of his return to fitness 

Leicester City’s Development Squad recorded a second-consecutive Premier League 2 point after drawing 1-1 with Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on Friday evening. 

The Foxes took the lead with just six minutes on the clock after Yohan Benalouane powered in a header from a pin-point corner. 

City looked good value for their first victory of the 2016/17 Premier League 2 campaign, but when defender Cameron Humphreys collected the ball 20 yards from goal, he made no mistakes and fired in for 1-1. 

Humphreys struck with nine minutes left to play, leaving the Foxes little time to respond, as both sides shared the spoils in Manchester. 

Having recorded a first point of the season in a battling 2-2 draw at Southampton last time out, the Foxes headed to Etihad Stadium to take on a Man City side that had won three of their opening five Premier League 2 fixtures and sat third in the table. 

Just as first team boss Claudio Ranieri had said in his pre-Manchester United press conference, Benaloune notched up some valuable minutes as part of his return to fitness. 

It was a frantic start in Manchester, as Daniel Iversen made a brilliant stop from Paolo Fernandes’ free kick, before Billy O’Brien denied Kairo Mitchell at the other end. 

The resulting corner provided the breakthrough for Leicester, as Benalouane sent a powerful header into the back of the net, leaving O’Brien with no chance. 

Admiral Muskwe dragged a strike wide on 17 minutes following a swift break from winger Liandro Martis, while Harvey Barnes saw his low effort comfortably held by O’Brien six minutes later. 

Man City pressed for an equaliser late on in the first half, as Iversen first denied Fernandes, before Alex Pascanu did brilliantly to block Humphreys’ low drive and maintain the Foxes’ 1-0 lead heading into the break. 

An opportunity to double the lead fell to Muskwe with 54 minutes gone, but the striker sent his effort wide, while Benalouane sent a powerful half-volley off target a minute later. 

Iversen then did well to gather a 20-yard free kick from Fernandes just after the hour mark as the hosts pushed for an equaliser. 

Defender Pablo Maffeo struck the top of Iversen’s bar from Angelino’s cross with an acrobatic effort with just 13 minutes to play, but Man City did breach the Foxes’ defence shortly after. 

Humphreys found space on the edge of the box and advanced towards goal before slotting in with just nine minutes to play. 

That proved to be the last major action of a hard-fought encounter, with a trip to Grimsby Town on Tuesday 4 October in the Checkatrade Trophy next up for the Development Squad. 

MAN CITY: O’Brien (c), Maffeo, Humphreys, Adarabioyo, Angelino, Horsfield, Fernandes, Kongolo, Nmecha (Buckley-Ricketts 53), Diaz, Dilrosun (Nemane 46) 

SUBS NOT USED: Wood, Haug, Davenport 

GOAL: Humphreys 81 

CITY: Iversen, Johnson, Benalouane, Moore (c), Pascanu, Sherif (Rowe 53), Miles, Barnes, Martis (Domej 63), Muskwe, Mitchell (Uche 74) 

SUBS NOT USED: Bramley, Ndukwu 

GOAL: Benalouane 6 

REFEREE: Anthony Backhouse