‘Developing Well’ – Petty Assesses The Under-21s’ Campaign To Date

- Development Squad coach Ben Petty speaks to LCFC.com at the season’s midway point
- City’s Under-21s have played several friendlies during the FIFA World Cup break
- They took away some good learnings and experiences from the Papa Johns Trophy
- The Premier League International Cup is another important competition alongside PL2, Petty says

Despite not accumulating as many points as they would have liked over the course of the Premier League 2 Division 1 campaign so far, sitting 12th in the standings, on nine points from 11 matches, City’s coach has seen plenty of pleasing player development.

The experience of competing in the Papa Johns Trophy – a tournament which sees Under-21 sides come up against senior opposition from Sky Bet League 1 and 2 – also proved highly beneficial, although the young Foxes narrowly missed out on qualifying from their group.

“We’re a few points short from where we wanted to be [in PL2],” Petty admitted to LCFC.com. “On reflection, apart from a couple of games, we feel like the players, individually, have developed well, if not necessarily the team. We’ve got one or two closer to the first team.

“We can hold our head up high in terms of the [Papa Johns Trophy] competition this season. We had a tough group with two League 1 teams, which made it very difficult, but over the three games we competed really well.

“The Sheffield Wednesday game was effectively a knockout game for us. If we’d have won the game, we’d have gone through, so that’s how close we came this year. But what a magnificent experience once again for the players. It’s a great competition for us.”

Currently on a break from competitive action during the FIFA World Cup, the pause in fixtures allows the youngsters to play friendly matches. Several members of the Development Squad also joined up with the senior side on a warm weather training camp, gaining another valuable week of experience in the Emirati capital.

The 45-year-old explained: “Five of the outfield lads and two goalkeepers went away to Abu Dhabi with the first team to train and the feedback has been excellent, so that was a great experience for them.

“That’s the key at the moment - the way the first team is working closely with us and the manager is fantastic. The young players go up there and experience it and really compete.”

That allowed some of Leicester’s Under-18s side, coached by Adam Barradell, to step up, gaining opportunities at Under-21 level.

Petty added: “I think you use these breaks in the programme to try and get some really good development work in. Jayden Joseph, one of the first year-scholars, played for us on Tuesday. We’ve pushing the young lads through.

“I’ve been working closely with Adam and we’ve been trying to get some of the second-year scholars up to train with us. Just getting them integrated into the group ahead of looking to next season.”