Peake Reflects On ‘Difficult’ Youth Cup Test

- Leicester City’s Under-18s were beaten 3-2 after extra-time at Leigh Sports Village in the FA Youth Cup Fourth Round 

- The young Foxes will now turn their attentions to Saturday’s Barclays U18 Premier League clash with Arsenal at Belvoir Drive 

Leicester City Under-18s manager Trevor Peake says his side fared well against a physical Blackburn Rovers outfit following their FA Youth Cup Fourth Round defeat. 

The young Foxes were beaten 3-2 after extra-time in a thrilling encounter at Leigh Sports Village on Monday evening, despite taking the lead early on. 

Josh Eppiah fired City 1-0 up on 13 minutes, before Joseph Rankin-Costello levelled matters just before the break. 

Rankin-Costello then made it 2-1 in extra-time to the hosts, but Kairo Mitchell was on hand three minutes later to make it 2-2. 

And while the game looked certain to go to penalties, Blackburn substitute Joel Steer converted in the last minute of extra-time to send his side into the fifth round. 

Speaking to LCFC.com after the game, Peake said: “It’s tough to give a goal away at that time of the game. It’s a shame because we matched them on the physical side of things. 

“We knew it would be a real test for us but we didn’t create too much in the extra-time period. There wasn’t too much to worry them, so we were on the back foot trying to defend crosses. 

“In the first half we were quite pleasing. We struggled to deal with their set-plays and we conceded from one. We tried to ride that in the second half and we did to a degree. We were doing the best we could against a physical side that really do test you at the back.” 

The young Foxes will now turn their attentions to Saturday’s Barclays U18 Premier League fixture against Arsenal at Belvoir Drive. 

City currently sit fourth in the table and have just four fixtures of the league’s first phase to play – three of which sees them with home advantage. 

Peake added: “We’ve got Arsenal on Saturday and there’s plenty to play for. We’re obviously trying to develop every player at this stage so there’s a lot to look forward to for all the players in that respect too.”