Dewsbury-Hall: We Leave With Our Heads Held High

- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall provides a positive assessment of Leicester City's stay in Hong Kong
- The 20-year-old midfielder captained the youthful squad over the week-long visit
- City finished as runners-up in the HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens Shield Final on Sunday morning
- Dewsbury-Hall says the younger players will learn a lot from the experience

City were defeated 2-1 by Wolverhampton Wanderers in extra-time of the Shield Final in Hong Kong after overcoming Singapore Cricket Club, Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion over both days.

Following an excellent 2018/19 domestic campaign personally, which ended with Dewsbury-Hall winning the Development Squad Player of the Season award, the 20-year-old impressed in Hong Kong.

It was three goals and five assists which ultimately propelled Leicester's youngsters towards the Shield showpiece, where they were beaten by a golden goal during a four-a-side phase of extra-time.

Reflecting on City’s tournament overall, which also included reaching the last-eight of the Main Cup, Dewsbury-Hall told LCFC TV: “We’re really disappointed not to win the last game, obviously.

“All the boys have worked hard and we just fell short in the end. We’re gutted because the most frustrating thing is that we’ve actually not lost a game in this tournament in normal time.

“Both the games we’ve lost (Rangers and Wolves)… it’s gone down to the four-v-four at the end, which is bitter way to go out in the end.

“It was a good tournament, I enjoyed it – all the lads enjoyed it. I’m proud because the team we brought out was very young.

“Obviously we had five scholars in and eight of the players who came to the tournament had never played [the Soccer Sevens] before, so we were all getting used to it really.”

Now with a summer break on the horizon ahead of what could be a big 2019/20 campaign for Dewsbury-Hall and his team-mates, the Academy graduate was satisfied with the nature of his own performances.

“Overall, we can be proud of what we’ve achieved,” he added. “We didn’t lose in normal time and every game we did lose, it went down to the wire and, on another day, it could have been different.

“I’m pleased with how I played myself because I got three goals and five assists, so it’s nice to contribute to the team and obviously show everyone what we’re about.”

City's youngsters are due back in England on Tuesday before a summer break from action and then a return to Belvoir Drive for pre-season training later in the summer.