A Deserved PL2 Victory, Says Petty

- Leicester City’s Development Squad defeated Everton Under-23s 3-1 on Monday night
- Jake Wakeling, Tawanda Maswanhise and Vontae Daley-Campbell were on the scoresheet
- A delighted Ben Petty reviewed the Premier League 2 fixture with LCFC TV after full-time
- The Foxes coach was impressed with the team’s performance at LCFC Training Ground

The Foxes youngsters secured a 3-1 success at LCFC Training Ground on Monday evening to rise to eighth in the PL2 standings after four games of the 2021/22 campaign.

Petty felt the reaction to last week’s loss at the hands of Crystal Palace was exactly what was required, as the hosts stormed ahead after just six minutes, adding a second goal before half-time.

“It was a tremendous response; I’m delighted with the players,” he told LCFC TV. “I thought they were terrific tonight. We started really, really well and it’s always good to get your nose in front so early.

“It just gave us that little bit of confidence and self-belief after last week that we are still a good young side. They just fatigued a little bit in the last 15 minutes because of the amount of effort that they put into the game.

“It’s important for the players, they want to win every game, but I’ve said to them that they had to trust the process. The level that they have been training at and playing at was deserving of a win.

“We’ve had to wait four games for it but I think we were unfortunate at Man Utd, we were probably a little bit unfortunate at Blackburn and then tonight they’ve got what they deserved.”

Jake Wakeling netted his third goal of the season across all competitions to break the deadlock, while Tawanda Maswanhise also found the target during the first 45 minutes with a superb solo effort. Captain Vontae Daley-Campbell then added a third to cap off an impressive all-round display.

Talking through the three strikes, Petty continued: “From a coaching point of view, we’re really delighted with the third goal. We’ve been working a lot on our wide play and our combination play.

“I think Sammy [Braybrooke] plays a great ball into Vontae and getting our wing-back into that position is terrific. I thought Vontae was superb again tonight and deserved his goal. At the moment, all the players are developing nicely.

“It was a fantastic second goal. He (Tawanda Maswanhise) did it at Blackburn, he looks a live wire. Once he gets his physicality and he grows into his body a little bit and believes in his ability, I think we’ve got a player on our hands.”

City shifted to a three-at-the-back formation for the visit of the Toffees and the change in system, along with the addition of experienced defender Filip Benković, allowed more free-flowing football to be played, as well as greater stability across the backline, Petty believes.

Although unable to keep a maiden shut-out of the season due to Everton’s injury-time consolation, there was also plenty of praise for goalkeeper Brad Young, who made a string of important saves throughout the contest.

He explained: “It’s something that we worked on in pre-season, we were comfortable with it, it allows us to play out from the back with an extra player. Filip was excellent, he gave the back three some real solidity and calmness on the ball.

“We got out a lot from playing out from the back, especially in the first half. I thought the system worked well for us and we defended superbly.

“He (Brad Young) was outstanding and he has been since he came into the Club. He’s already a very popular member of the group, he’s got high standards and as you can see, that goal going in hurt him.

“He made two massive saves at really important times and that’s when you realise how good a goalkeeper he is. He makes huge saves at huge times. Hopefully, in the years to come, Brad’s going to be a really good goalkeeper for the Club.”