U18s Report: Middlesbrough 4 Leicester City 1

- Kairo Mitchell was on target for City 

- The young Foxes face West Bromwich Albion in the Barclays U18 Premier League on Saturday 19 March 

Leicester City’s Under-18s were beaten 4-1 in the Barclays U18 Premier League by Middlesbrough on Saturday afternoon. 

Both outfits were in good form as City had scored 10 goals in their last two games, beating both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur, while Middlesbrough recently recorded victories over Arsenal and Sunderland. 

Saturday’s hosts burst out of the blocks and were ahead within 30 seconds, before the young Foxes went down to 10 men midway through the first period. 

Despite going 2-0 down after the break, City battled and halved the deficit through Kairo Mitchell, but two late strikes from Boro ensured Trevor Peake’s outfit would return to Leicester empty handed. 

Speaking to LCFC.com following the game, Under-18s manager Peake said: “We conceded in the first minute, so we were 1-0 down after their first attack. We then had a man sent off after 20 minutes, so it made it very difficult for us. 

“We managed to get into half-time at 1-0, which was a good effort. We felt we had a chance if we could cope with 10 men. They got a second after an hour but we replied really soon after through Kairo Mitchell. 

“There was a couple of good chances then to equalise and obviously that would have done our confidence a world of good, but we let one in with about 10 minutes to play and that killed us off. 

“We coped well with going down to 10 men, because it makes it difficult, especially playing with a man down for that long. 

“Up until their third goal, we were definitely still in it. We managed to create three or four good chances where their ‘keeper had to make some good saves, so that was certainly pleasing.”