- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall offers his thoughts on Leicester City’s 0-0 draw with PSV Eindhoven
- The Foxes were held to a stalemate on Filbert Way in the UEFA Europa Conference League Quarter-Final first leg
- Harvey Barnes hit the crossbar for the Foxes in the first half
The industrious midfielder played the full 90 minutes as PSV Eindhoven held the Foxes to a 0-0 draw in the first match of their UEFA Europa Conference League Quarter-Final.
Harvey Barnes came closest to scoring, while Kelechi Iheanacho scooped an attempt wide. Both opportunities came in the first 45 minutes of a tight affair in Leicester.
Neither side’s opening gambit paid off, meaning whoever wins on the night next week will advance to the semi-finals.
“It was a bit of a chess match, to be honest,” he told LCFC TV. “Neither team had many chances, it was toing and froing at times in the game.
“We had a lot of possession, a lot of territory at times, but we didn’t have that clinical edge which was missing to get the goal.
“We’ve seen what they’re like for 90 minutes now, so it gives us confidence going into the second leg, and hopefully we can go through.
“We know what job we need to do now. We need to go there and win. We know it’s going to be a good atmosphere, a tough game, we’ve seen what they’re like now.
“I feel like if we’re on our A-game, we’re clinical in the final third and a bit more patient, I can’t see why we can’t go through because when we’re at our best, I don’t think they’ll be able to deal with that.”
Dewsbury-Hall was extremely effective in a midfield three, winning possession for the Foxes to spring a number of counter-attacks – one of which led to a big chance for Iheanacho to find the net.
He said: “It’s always nice to put a shift in and I want to play as well as I can for the team. It’d been even nicer to get the win to cap it off, but it gives me confidence going into the next leg.
“I want to play in these big competitions and do well, so I’ll be resting and recovering and hopefully playing next week.
“We wanted to have quite a high press and he wanted me and Youri [Tielemans] to press up on their midfield, so he didn’t want us to give them any time if they tried to play through the lines.
“I was just trying to anticipate balls that went in there, and if I could get a toe to them, then great. I was just trying to get as tight as possible, and there were a couple of times where I did that, and it nearly worked out. I’ve just got to keep working hard, and hopefully one of them will result in a goal.”
With a second leg tie coming up at Philips Stadion next week, Dewsbury-Hall knows City have the ability to advance to their first ever European semi-final.
He added: “We need to be confident, we have to be confident to go away in Holland with a tough crowd, so we need that belief and we do have that belief.
“We have a great set of lads in the dressing room, so it’s a big game and we know what our job is.
“We need to go there and win, I believe we can do that, the lads believe we can do that. Hopefully, we can progress to the semi-finals.”