Petty Encouraged By Overall Performance
- Leicester City's Development Squad were defeated 3-1 by West Ham United Under-23s on Friday
- Coach Ben Petty was pleased with the team's performance despite the result at Rush Green
- He believes City can now use this performance to ensure a positive end to the 2020/21 season
- The Foxes remain 11th in the Premier League 2 Division 1 table with five games left to play
Going in all square at the break, two second half goals from the home side ensured it would be the Hammers who took all three points from the tightly-fought Premier League 2 encounter at Rush Green.
Kasey McAteer's first-half equaliser was the least the visitors had deserved from their display, Petty believes, and it was a missed opportunity not to go on and make their chances count in the final third.
"We're very disappointed with the result, but not disappointed with the performance," City's Assistant Senior Professional Development Phase Coach told LCFC TV in his post-match interview on Friday evening. "I must say that we're delighted with the lads.
"I thought they played the right way, we were good on the ball and good in possession.
"Perhaps we didn't create as much as we would have liked, but it was a young side out there tonight. We had first-year scholars playing at Under-23s level against players that have got Premier League experience, it was an experienced West Ham side tonight.
"To go 1-0 down was tough but it was a great response from the players and we were buoyant at half-time, we were very positive and we asked the lads to go out there and show the same appetite for it.
"Unfortunately they get the crucial second goal and a little bit of fatigue set in. We didn't finish the game as strong but we had a lot of young players on and there was no lack of effort tonight."
With the next Premier League 2 fixture not until 12 April, when Tottenham Hotspur Under-23s travel to LCFC Training Ground, Petty is confident that City can bounce back strongly in the coming weeks, in order to finish the campaign on a high.
He added: "We've got lads coming back in from injury, like Ben Nelson, with Shane Flynn and Kasey McAteer nursing knocks as well. We've still got lads training with the first team, which is fantastic for them, there's a lot of development going on.
"I think the lads have done us proud and sometimes you don't get what you deserve and that's what we've said in the changing room, we need to show that mentality now for the rest of the season.
"We'll look forward to the next two or three weeks to get the lads fully fit again and keep working on areas of the game where we think we can improve.
"We're well up for the fight now and it's going to be a really good end to the season."