Beaglehole: A Tough Defeat To Take

- Merseyside outfit snatched all three points late on with a fortunate deflected strike 

- The Foxes had earlier got themselves level before dominating in the second period 

Development Squad manager Steve Beaglehole believes his side’s second half performance in the 2-1 Barclays U21 Premier League defeat to Liverpool warranted at least a point from the game.

The Foxes went 1-0 down in the first period after a strike from Jerome Sinclair, but a spirited display after the break eventually saw them level the game up. 

Harry Panayiotou first won a penalty but saw his spot-kick saved by goalkeeper Ryan Fulton before Michael Cain fired the rebound onto the bar. 

But just six minutes later, City netted a deserved equaliser as St. Kitts and Nevis international striker Panayiotou headed in Ben Chilwell’s excellent cross. 

A number of goalscoring chances then fell Leicester’s way, but they couldn’t capitalise on their dominance, and Liverpool found a winning goal late on after Cameron Brannagan turned in Joe Davis’ attempted clearance. 

“We had them on the back foot in the second half,” Beaglehole told LCFC.com. “We intended playing with more of a threat in the first half but we didn’t quite do that. 

“I felt we had too many touches in the first half and that played into their hands a little bit. We’re a little disappointed with the goal that we conceded. 

“We changed things round at half-time and brought Layton Ndukwu on as we felt we needed Matty Miles at right back to get forward. 

“We looked much better after that switch. We had more shots and were more of a threat. We got a penalty that we unfortunately missed, but it was a great header from Harry to get us level.” 

City looked like they had done enough to earn at least a point out of the game, only to see an unfortunate deflection off Brannagan bounce off the forward and past shot-stopper Jonny Maddison, who made some stunning stops in the defeat. 

Beaglehole added: “We had chance after chance after our goal. The game was there for us to win, but unfortunately we didn’t hang on to what we had. We said before the game that if we don’t win, then don’t get beat. 

“It was a tough goal to concede. The ball was played into the box and Alie Sesay tries to play it across the line, and then we got some bad luck when it hits the striker and loops over the goalkeeper. 

"These things happen when you’re not winning games and it spirals. We need a game where we just nullify any mistakes and try to win it on account of our own performance.”