Beaglehole Excited By Sunderland Challenge
- Leicester City's Development Squad face Sunderland at Stadium of Light on Tuesday (7pm kick-off)
- The Foxes are currently top of Northern Group A in the Leasing.com Trophy
- Steve Beaglehole says the players are excited by the test of playing Sky Bet League 1 opponents
Last week, the Foxes first defeated Grimsby Town in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday before sealing all three points at Manchester City in Premier League 2 Division 1 on Friday.
City are now unbeaten in seven matches across all competitions and have won their last four, putting them top of Northern Group A in the EFL Trophy and fourth in the league.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's visit to Stadium of Light to face Phil Parkinson's Black Cats, Senior Professional Development Phase Coach Beaglehole said: "It’s been a great week.
"We had a special meeting, with senior first team players, they talked to our lads about the responsibilities they have being Leicester City players and the camaraderie and the team spirit.
"It was terrific and I sat there and I thought this won’t happen at any other club. They were a great example, the first team lads, and the way they’re playing now, the winning mentality.
"It’s great for us to try and emulate. All we can do is just try and make them as proud of our group as we are of them and our last few games have gone a long way to doing that."
Addressing the subject of Tuesday's clash directly, Beaglehole emphasised the importance of City's youngsters being at their very best if they are to seal safe passage to the knockout phase.
"We've said before that this is possibly our biggest test, this competition," he continued. "They challenge our lads to play against Football League opposition and we're looking forward to it.
"At Stadium of Light, a big stadium, great tradition, that’ll be a totally different game to the one we played on Friday against Manchester City, as this game was different to Grimsby.
"I keep saying, this Under-23s football, people knock it, but what a games programme for them and it’s certainly a games programme that tests them individually.
"That’s what we want, we want to see how they can handle nights like this."