Gain Every Little Bit Of Experience, Says Petty
- Leicester City's Development Squad were beaten 4-1 by Fleetwood Town in the Papa John's Trophy on Tuesday evening
- Coach Ben Petty hopes the Club's youngsters will learn lessons from the defeat at Highbury Stadium
- The Foxes will next be in action in Premier League 2 against Crystal Palace on 13 September
- Further group stage games against Accrington Stanley and Barrow A.F.C. await in the EFL Trophy
Callum Morton's hat-trick was added to by a solitary effort from Ryan Edmondson for the home side, who play in Sky Bet League 1, while Jake Wakeling got a goal back for the Foxes against the Cod Army. Simon Grayson's men eventually won the Northern Group G clash 4-1 in the North West.
Despite falling behind early on, Petty was enthused by the manner in which City's youngsters kept battling to get back into the contest and says they can take that experience forward with them into the 2021/22 season.
"It was a really tough night for the lads, but I’ve just said in there about it being an education for them," he told LCFC TV. "Fleetwood away in the first game was always going to be a really big ask and the first 60 minutes proved that, but in the last 30 minutes, we had a really good go.
"We kept trying to play in the right way and we’ve took some positives out of that in the changing room. We saw how physical the game actually is at this level. This is the level they’ve got to get to. You can see the physical power, the aerial combat and the strength in which they go into tackles."
The Club's Development Squad will now return to work at LCFC Training Ground before welcoming Crystal Palace Under-23s to Seagrave in Premier League 2 Division 1 on Monday 13 September (7pm BST kick-off).
Petty says nights such as the one they experienced at Fleetwood on Tuesday will serve them well as they look to challenge in Premier League 2 this term.
City's Youngsters Suffer Fleetwood Defeat In EFL Trophy
The key moments as Leicester City's Development Squad were beaten in the group stage of the Papa John's Trophy on Tuesday.
"They need to make sure they gain every little bit of experience they can from moments like this," Petty added. "Sometimes, you learn from times when it’s not so good. I think we’ll take a lot from the game. We need to move on quickly and there’s no time to waste with the games programme.
"In this competition, if you can get a win in the next game, it’s all there for us in the final group game. It’s always a tough ask for the Under-21s teams to get out of their groups, but we want to gain as much experience as we can at this level and it’s great for players.
"We'll be back into the league programme quickly after the break. It's a great programme for our lads. It's what they want to be doing. They're training every day and they play tough matches every week. It's how they're going to develop."