City's 2019/20 EFL Trophy Journey
- Leicester City's youngsters travel to face Sky Bet League 1 side Hull City on Tuesday
- The EFL Trophy group stage game at KCOM Stadium is scheduled to be a 5:30pm BST kick-off
- The Foxes made it to the last eight of the competition last season, before losing to Newport County
The Club's Development Squad faced strong, senior opposition throughout their 2019/20 campaign, reaching the last eight for the very first time.
Here's a recap of how they did it...
Scunthorpe United 1 Leicester City 1 (1-3 pens)
Group stage
Sands Venue Stadium
Tuesday 24 September, 2019
City's EFL Trophy journey began with a trip to face Scunthorpe, which brought the team's first two points in the group stage.
With just three minutes to play, an excellent away performance appeared to have paid off in dramatic fashion for the Foxes. Substitute Tyrese Shade burst into the penalty area and eventually found Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who sent a fearsome drive into the net to finally break the deadlock.
However, the home side equalised via Ryan Colclough, who collected the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box and powered it beyond Eldin Jakupović. After ending 1-1 over 90 minutes, a bonus point was on offer to the penalty shootout victors.
While Admiral Muskwe's spot-kick was saved, following misses by Colclough, Miller and Levi Sutton, Foxes goalscorer Dewsbury-Hall, Josh Eppiah and Luke Thomas all found the net to secure a second point.
Grimsby Town 1 Leicester City 2
Group stage
Blundell Park
Tuesday 29 October, 2019
Victory over Grimsby truly kickstarted the Foxes' campaign, though they had to come from behind to earn all three points at Blundell Park.
The Mariners took the lead just after the half-hour mark when Moses Ogbu leapt highest and headed in at the far post. However, with 17 minutes to play the industrious George Hirst laid off Eppiah to power his strike into the bottom corner.
And then an extraordinary strike by Eppiah, from 25 yards, settled the encounter in style. He seized the ball under his control and arrowed it straight into the top corner, securing his third goal in two matches, and winning the game for City.
Sunderland 1 Leicester City 2
Group stage
Stadium of Light
Tuesday 5 November, 2019
Perhaps City's biggest scalp of the cup run came on Wearside, where Sunderland were the hosts for this group stage encounter. Phil Parkinson’s hosts struck after 14 minutes when Chris Maguire found the net via a stunning free-kick.
Leicester completed a three-minute turnaround after the break, which saw them triumph in the North East. Firstly, Hirst made no mistake from the penalty spot after Callum Wright was felled in the box and, after the 20-year-old’s cool finish into the bottom corner, City pushed for another.
They were rewarded as Dewsbury-Hall launched a brilliant rocket into the top corner from the edge of the area to seal safe passage into the knockout phase.
Doncaster Rovers 0 Leicester City 3
Round 2
Keepmoat Stadium
Wednesday 4 December, 2019
City’s Development Squad arrived in Doncaster looking to book their place in Round 3 of the competition - and the Foxes made it seven wins in a row in style, dominating proceedings from the off.
Leicester took the lead inside just 12 minutes as Calvin Ughelumba’s cross fell to Muskwe in the box, who finished expertly.
With 25 minutes to go, a forward ball was initially headed onto the bar by Hirst, but there was Muskwe again to nod it over Ian Lawlor’s grasp and in to make it 2-0.
It got even better as Hirst responded quickest to a loose ball in the area to apply a close-range finish, wrapping up a brilliant 3-0 win for the youthful visitors.
Tranmere Rovers 1 Leicester City 2
Round 3
Prenton Park
Tuesday 7 January, 2020
Tranmere Rovers were the opponents for City's next encounter, with a place in the last eight of the competition up for grabs.
The Foxes went into the break a goal down as Harvey Gilmour’s low drive was flicked past Jakupović and into the far corner by Stefan Payne, giving Rovers the advantage.
But Leicester struck back when Hirst ran at goal and beat Luke Pilling at his near post to score his 10th goal in 2019/20.
An excellent comeback was complete in the 72nd minute when Muskwe cut inside his man before rocketing a powerful shot past Pilling and into the net to earn a brilliant 2-1 success.
Newport County 1 Leicester City 0
Quarter-finals
Rodney Parade
Tuesday 4 February, 2020
The Foxes made the trip to south Wales and, despite showing encouraging signs in the early exchanges, Michael Flynn’s home side went in front on 13 minutes when Scot Bennett capitalised on a loose ball in the area to slam it into the net.
City's best chance to claw themselves back into the tie came five minutes after half-time, but Ali Reghba initially appeared to have missed out on the opportunity to draw level.
However, it landed perfectly for Thomas to go for goal on the edge of Newport's penalty area. The England youth international hit it sweetly, but there was Nick Townsend to tip it over the bar.
Leicester's showing in the 2019/20 campaign was their best-ever since electing to enter an Under-21s side into the competition back in 2016 after previously only reaching Round 3.