Results Round-Up: Mixed Fortunes For City's Sides
It started on Friday evening as Steve Beaglehole’s Under-23s travelled to Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City seven days after defeating PL2 champions Everton in Merseyside.
Layton Ndukwu’s 25th minute penalty levelled the scores after Lorenzo Gonzalez’s opener for the hosts before Benjamin Garre restored the lead for Simon Davies’ men in Manchester.
Petty Pleased With Spirited Display
Ben Petty says his side performed well to get fight back and earn a point against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium after conceding a goal early on.
But, with just seven minutes remaining, new Foxes midfielder George Thomas pounced onto a loose ball in the 18-yard box to riffle it into the net and secure City’s fourth point of 2017/18.
Speaking at full-time, assistant manager Ben Petty revealed his joy at seeing the Under-23s carry an increased attacking threat despite Man City's quality.
Under-23s League Standing: 5th
Next Up: Fleetwood Town* (A)
Top scorer: J. Knight, L. Ndukwu, G. Thomas (1)
*Checkatrade Trophy
The following day, the Under-18s maintained their unblemished start to the new PL U18 season with a 3-1 victory over Reading at Belvoir Drive.
Trevor Peake’s side took the lead inside five minutes at the Club's training ground when Tyrese Shade found Conor Tee in space to beat Gabriel Rosario in the Royals net.
City’s lead was doubled 11 minutes later when Tee and Shade switched roles for the latter to score his second of the season having joined from Solihull Moors this summer.
While Ethan Coleman’s 19th minute strike had Leicester worried about a Reading comeback, defender George Heaven made sure of the result just before half-time.
Under-18 League Standing: 2nd
Next Up: Brighton (A)
Top scorers: T. Shade, C. Tee (2)
The toughest test of the weekend, however, was undoubtedly at Old Trafford as Craig Shakespeare’s City attempted to halt Manchester United’s perfect start to the new season.
The visitors stifled the 20-time English champions for large periods but, when Henrikh Mkhitaryan delivered from the right after 70 minutes, substitute Marcus Rashford fired home.
For all City’s resilience, they would go on to concede a second on 82 minutes as Marouane Fellaini combined with Jesse Lingard to turn the ball past Kasper Schmeichel.
Both Shakespeare and captain Wes Morgan admitted their frustration at full-time but challenged the Foxes to use the result as motivation for future outings.
First Team League Standing: 15th
Next Up: Chelsea (H)
Top Scorers: S. Okazaki, J. Vardy (2)