Petty: We Finished The Game Strongly

Development Squad
16 Feb 2020
2 Minutes
Assistant Senior Professional Development Phase Coach Ben Petty says Leicester City's Development Squad showed their character during Friday's 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

- Leicester City's Development Squad beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 at Holmes Park on Friday
- Coach Ben Petty called for the Foxes to 'take more care in possession'
- Petty says City's youngsters showed character to come back from behind in the game
- George Hirst's performance was also praised by Petty

The Foxes had to come from behind before the break, through a penalty from George Hirst and Callum Wright's header, before Hirst struck again later on to win the clash at Holmes Park.

As a result, City's youngsters now sit atop of the Premier League 2 Division 1 standings, level on points with Chelsea, who have played one game fewer, ahead of their visit to Arsenal on Monday.

However, Petty believes there were areas of the performance which could have been improved upon in challenging conditions in Whetstone on Friday night.

"We don’t really feel as though we stamped our authority on the game tonight," he told LCFC TV. "The game plan didn’t really come to fruition and we’ve ended up scrapping it out.

"You do get games like that throughout a season. Ultimately, we’re chuffed with the three points, but we want to play better."

City were much improved in the second half and, despite initially losing their lead, they regained it late on to seal a ninth league win of the season.

"We said at half-time that we needed to cut out the silly mistakes and take a bit more care in possession," Petty continued. "We felt as though we were contributing to our own downfall at times.

"In the second half we showed a lot more dominance in the game and we showed a lot of character after getting pulled back to 2-2 and I felt we finished the game strongly."

Petty was also delighted with Hirst's efforts after the 21-year-old scored a brace to take his 2019/20 tally up to 12 in all competitions. 

"That’s what good strikers do," he added. "I think George had a really tough game tonight and most teams now, they know about George.

"They’re going to shackle him and maybe double up on him. It was a terrific goal and we’re delighted for him because he’s struggled a little bit with his hip.

"He hasn’t trained as much as we’d have hoped, so that will do him the world of good tonight."