Petty's Pride Despite Final-Day Reverse At Palace

- Leicester City's Development Squad fell to a 3-2 defeat at Crystal Palace Under-23s on Monday
- Tawanda Maswanhise and Lewis Brunt found the net in the Premier League 2 Division 1 clash
- Coach Ben Petty was proud of the players after their final fixture of the 2021/22 campaign
- He also praised Lewis Brunt, who captained City's youngsters a day after his Premier League debut

A helter-skelter final-day clash with the Eagles saw Killian Phillips put the hosts ahead after just 10 minutes, before a fine finish from Tawanda Maswanhise restored parity on the scoresheet. Scott Banks netted a brace for Palace to retain the ascendancy either side of the break, however.

After both Tayo Adaramola and Luke Dreher saw red for the home side, Lewis Brunt's penalty narrowed the arrears, but Palace held on to claim the victory. It leaves City's youngsters seventh in Premier League 2 Division 1 with sides around them yet to play their final fixtures.

"I'm not quite sure how we lost the game," Petty told LCFC TV at full-time. "I think, in the first 10 minutes, we didn't start too well and then, obviously, the first five minutes of the second half ended up being pivotal. I just said to the players in there, I thought for 80 minutes this afternoon they were fantastic.

"They played a brilliant style of football and created chance after chance, but you can't give silly goals away like that and expect to win, especially away from home. The penalty in the second half was key to game. Obviously, they then went down to 10 men and allowed us to dominate possession even more.

City's Under-23s threw everything at the Palace goal in the latter stages, but some heroic defending kept them at bay. Petty was naturally disappointed not to claim at least a point on the final day of the season, but he was eager to highlight the players' overall contributions to a positive season.

"We dealt with the ball brilliantly," he added. "We passed it really well and they've cleared four off the line, so on another day, I think we'd have come back with at least a point from that game.

"Over the course of the season, it kind of evens out. I just said to the players, I think they've been sensational this season. It's a very, very young side with five or six scholars starting every week.

"It's been fantastic and they've been brilliant to coach. Hopefully this is the start of them developing next year and kicking on again."

Brunt, on the other hand, captained the Foxes in the capital just over 24 hours after making his Premier League debut from the bench for Leicester's senior side at Tottenham Hotspur. Signed by the Club from Petty's former team, Aston Villa, last summer, the 21-year-old has impressed many this term.

"I'm delighted for Lewis, he's been magnificent for the team this season," Petty explained. "He's been a leader. I've known him a long time, since he was seven, and he definitely hasn't let me down this season. It just goes to show, 20 minutes after the game last night, he text me and asked me to play today.

"The manager was happy for him to play. We had one or two injuries so it meant he had to stay on, but he was magnificent again today. Like most of them were, he was first-class. They've done the Club proud this season."

The Development Squad are likely to finish in mid-table this year at the end of a term which has seen several youngsters step up from the Club's Under-18s set-up, while also gaining international experience for their nations' youth sides. Petty is excited by what the future has in store for those players and is already thinking about the 2022/23 season.

"It's about fair," he said of City's PL2 positioning. "We've had our ups and downs. With a young team, you expect a bit of naïvety. We've had some fantastic results at Seagrave, we've made that a bit of a fortress, apart from last Monday. Obviously, we need to improve our away form, and solidify it a bit at the back.

"I'm sure we'll do that. We've got a lot of time between now and September. We can really start to work on the training ground on those things we're maybe not as strong at at the minute."