Beaglehole Encouraged By Second Half Display

- Leicester City's Development Squad were narrowly beaten 2-1 by Derby County Under-23s in Premier League 2 Division 1
- Substitute Will Russ was on target for the young Foxes at LCFC Training Ground and one of several Under-18s to make the step up on Monday night
- Steve Beaglehole gave his post-match reaction to LCFC TV and saw plenty of positives to take from the game
- The team must learn from their mistakes and stop conceding early goals to turn good performances into results, he adds

Trailing by two at the break, Will Russ' 54th minute header proceeded a sustained period of pressure from City, who were unable to break down the Rams for a second time during the Premier League 2 clash in Seagrave.

Beaglehole explained the half-time tactical changes which enabled City to dominate the second half, and whilst disappointed with the final result, he saw several pleasing aspects to their attacking play.

"I'm disappointed with the result, pleased with the response second half," City's Senior Professional Development Phase Coach told LCFC TV post-match. "I think it's become a bit of a habit, that second half. In terms of the game in the first 15 minutes, we said about playing in their half fairly early on, keeping a clean sheet.

"But two poor defensive situations, a set play where a player that was supposed to be marking [Cameron] Cresswell didn't pick him up, so that's a basic, that's a schoolboy error. And then we didn't defend well, either, for the other goal.

"We were getting done in midfield too easily, people not doing the basics like getting up to the ball, tracking runners, and, you know, we probably were lucky to go in 2-0 down, it could have been more.

"We shuffled it second half like we've done in a number of games this season, really went for it, played man to man at the back, pushed people on, created more chances, showed a lot more energy and scored a goal, but we should have scored more."

With some of the regular Development Squad players potentially in action for the first team on Wednesday evening, several Under-18s were given their first taste of Under-23s football. And Beaglehole was keen to highlight their efforts against experienced opponents, believing they coped well with the challenge on the night.

Praising the first year scholars in action, he said: "The shining light was Sammy Braybrooke. I thought he was excellent. He's a young player and obviously he's got a lot of physical development to come. But I thought he was superb, brave on the ball, brave out of possession, one of his free kicks was magnificent, a dinked ball.

"I think we might see another player coming through from the academy in future years and if he continues like that, he has a chance of playing up there with the best, because he showed all the qualities that you need.

"He's come on tonight, we moved him out of the middle, in the middle of a park because we tried to get a bit more solid in there in the first half. But it wasn't right on him and that's why we changed it and went back with him in there and then he grew and grew.

"Will [Russ] has scored, Will's physically developed, he's a big lad, he took his goal well and then I felt at times there was one header in particular near the edge of the box where he just tried to score and he should have knocked it down.

"Things like that, which you expect at that age, you learn that through experience, but I think when you see a first year scholar come on at this level and play, and I've seen over the years a few times, it's a good yardstick. At the moment, results are not what we want them to be, a lot of the performances in the games are not what we want them to be.

"But, if you look at Harvey [Godsmark-Ford] who is out at the moment, first year scholar, [Ben] Nelson, first year scholar, both of them have played really well. Sammy Braybrooke tonight, first year scholar, Wormley [Joe Wormleighton] came on and looked the part, first year scholar, so that's what it's all about."

And despite a third straight league loss, Beaglehole is feeling optimistic about the future having seen promising signs from several young players who took to the field on Monday evening.

"Nobody wants to win the game more than me, and nobody gets more upset when we lose," he added. "But at the end of the day, if it is about developing players, then we're in a good position because they are outstanding players for their age.

"Now that's the first step. They've got to keep doing that and improve, but, at times as staff, we've got to look beyond the result, me in particular, and think well, yes, the good thing is that he's [Sammy Braybrooke] played tonight and shown the level that he can play at now.

"If we'd have had the players that we had in the last couple of weeks, he probably wouldn't have played, so we would have missed that window for him. So, a lot of good tonight, but we've got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot as a team, whatever players we put on the pitch.

"You cannot be 2-0 down as easy as that in the first 15 minutes of the game, because it makes it a lot easier for the opposition and it makes it harder for us as a team to get a result."