U18s Report: Leicester City 0 Reading 3

Goals from Andrija Novakovich, Noor Husin and Jake Sheppard handed the visitors victory, but the scoreline didn’t quite reflect the young Foxes’ performance, with spells of possession in both halves leading to some good chances for the hosts.
The result came just five days after the young Foxes advanced to the FA Youth Cup Fifth Round with at King Power Stadium on Monday evening.
City had at their Hogwood training ground back in early October when goals from Matty Miles and Elliott Moore handed them victory on that day.
Put under pressure early on, Leicester defended well through Josh Knight and Cedric Kipre – both cutting out good crosses from the Royals’ wide men.
Keenan King, who fired in the winner against the young Spireites on Monday, then hit a powerful drive from range which had to be turned wide by captain Zac Jules.
But City couldn’t capitalise on their first-half pressure, and Reading struck with 22 minutes on the clock. Novakovich latched on to a through-ball before taking a touch and slotting past Max Smith-Varnham to put his side into the lead.
Kyle Bailey looked to haul his side level when he burst down the right wing on 40 minutes, squaring the ball to Danny Rowe, who fired a first-time effort towards goal that had to be blocked by defender Gabriel Osho.
Kipre had the last chance of the first half, nodding captain Matty Miles’ cross just wide at the back post – 1-0 to the visitors at the break.
City came out fighting in the second half – a Miles corner fall to Kipre on the edge of the box, but his low drive was blocked and Reading cleared their lines.
Despite Leicester maintaining possession well, it was the Royals who got the second goal of the game just after the hour mark. Conor Davis set up Husin, who blasted a shot into the top corner from the edge of the box to make it 2-0.
At the other end, King controlled well and knocked the ball past Osho before being brought down in the area, but despite appeals from the City players, nothing was given.
Substitute Harvey Barnes, who came on with just over 10 minutes to go, made an immediate impact, carrying the ball past one defender before spreading the ball to Darnell Johnson. The right-back’s delivery then found Hamza Choudhury 20 yards from goal, but his low strike couldn’t beat Luke Southwood in the Reading nets.
Knight then met Johnson’s cross well on 83 minutes, but couldn’t generate the desired power to head past opposition shot-stopper Southwood, who collected comfortably.
While City pushed for a goal that could potentially bring them back into the tie, Reading were clinical on the counter-attack, and added a third with five minutes to go. Good work from goalscorer Husin found winger Sheppard, who cut inside before rattling a shot in at the far post.
Layton Ndukwu, who recently received another call up to England’s Under-17s squad to play in Portugal next month, mustered up the final opportunity of the game. The forward slipped past two defenders down the left wing before teeing up Barnes – his shot turned agonisingly wide after a good block from substitute Josh Chatee.
City next travel to Norwich City in the U18 Premier League on Saturday 31 January before hosting Aston Villa at Belvoir Drive the following weekend.
CITY: Smith-Varnham, Johnson, Percival (Muskwe 68), Choudhury, Knight, Kipre, Bailey (Barnes 79), Miles (c), King, Rowe, Ndukwu
SUBS NOT USED: Fura, Bramley, Mitchell
READING: Southwood, Akinwumni (Chatee 61), Lawal, Bennett, Osho, Jules (c), Sheppard, Collins, Novakovich, Husin, Davis
SUBS NOT USED: Smith, Collins, Andresson, Richards
GOALS: Novakovich 22, Husin 61, Sheppard 85
REFEREE: Mr C. Clarke