Young Foxes Duo Bag Premier League Awards
Goalkeeper Yates, 18, was presented with the Save of the Season for his rebuttal of a point-blank header during the extra-time FA Youth Cup Fourth Round victory over Middlesbrough in February. Ndukwu, meanwhile, won Goal of the Season for an audacious effort from the half-way line which sealed a Premier League Cup success against Liverpool back in December.
Both moments came at critical times last term - for City’s Under-18s and Under-23s squads respectively - and the Foxes duo were presented with their trophies by the Premier League this summer. Back in February, at Heritage Park in Bishop Auckland, young stopper Yates got a hand to Marcus Tavernier’s powerful header before Simran Thandi’s winner for Leicester in extra-time.
Recalling that save, Yates told LCFC.com: “We were under a bit of pressure at the time, the ball came from out wide and it was a really good header. I think he may have even been celebrating. I just remember turning and saving it. At the time you don’t realise it is a good save because your head’s in the game and you’re focussing on what’s going on around you.
“It’s only really after the game when you look back and reflect that you realise I did well there and it was a decent save. The win was a big team performance and everybody put a shift in on the day. It’s good as a goalkeeper to get the chance to make a save that can stick out in a game where neither team really had many chances.”
On receiving the award, the 18-year-old added: “It’s great to get the award. To be honest, I actually thought I made another good save in the season against Norwich City [in the U18 Premier League 2] which would probably have merited the award as well. But it is a great achievement and I’m really pleased to get the award.”
Elsewhere, Ndukwu’s stunning strike against Liverpool shared similarities with other great strikes from distance in previous seasons. Upon getting his hands on the award, the 18-year-old Foxes forward, renowned for scoring spectacular efforts at Under-23s level, revealed that it was no fluke and that he regularly works on long-distance shooting in training.
#lcfcu23's Layton Ndukwu scored this brilliant goal from inside his own half against Liverpool U23s this past weekend 👌 pic.twitter.com/D4RQER3mUO
— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 5, 2016
“Around that time, in training, I had done it a few times,” he said.
“The first person I had seen do it here was Matty James in training. It’s something I practice quite often, I get a few balls after training and hit them from the half-way line. As I say, that week, I was doing the cross bar challenge with Liandro [Martis] so I knew I had the distance in me.
“During the game, I had seen the keeper off his line a few times and, in the first half, I had played the ball over the Admiral [Muskwe] to run onto the keeper was way off his line to clear it. I knew then it was on. When the player on the ball slipped, I knew the keeper was going to be off his line, it was just about getting the technique right and I did.
“I’d like to score another goal like that again just it prove that it wasn’t a fluke. I scored few good goals last season but I don’t think I’ll score another as good as that one again.”