U18s Reaction: Youngsters’ Defiance Earns Peake Praise

The young Foxes took a 1-0 lead thanks to Elliott Moore’s early strike, but the visitors levelled from the spot through Stephy Mavididi before Stefan O’Connor put Arsenal 2-1 up at the break.
Further efforts from Mavididi, Aaron Eyoma and Gedion Zelalem saw the young Gunners take a commanding 5-1 lead, but a late surge from City meant Keenan King and Kyle Bailey .
“It was obviously a high-scoring game,” Peake told LCFC.com “After taking the lead we gave a couple of soft goals away before half-time which gave them the impetus.
“They’re a talented outfit and we found it difficult to play against them. They got a comfortable lead going into the last 10 minutes, but we kept going.
“We haven’t been in a situation where we’ve been 5-1 down this season because we’ve been quite tight at the back. It was interesting to see our lads in that situation and the reaction that they gave both individually and as a group was promising.
“It was good to see that we got a couple of goals back from that situation, but we still need to look through how we got ourselves that far away from a positive result. We’ve got to make sure it’s a one-off.”
Peake’s side next travel to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday 7 March knowing a win could move City back into the top four of the U18 Premier League.
Anticipating a challenging test, Peake added: “We played Spurs earlier in our league season. They’re another talented outfit from London – one of many at our level. They’ve got the ingredients to make it a really tough fixture.
“The game comes quickly after our Arsenal tie. Recently we’ve had a more intense fixture programme with midweek and weekend games, which has added a different element to our season.
“In some instances it means we will have to use different personnel over the next few weeks, but those who play every game will have to manage themselves differently.
“It takes a bit of a different mental approach as well – perhaps their legs feel a touch tired, or more tired than they would do for a normal fixture.
“It’s all great for their development and it’s something that you can look back on and see how they’ve coped.”