- Leicester City’s Under-21s were beaten 3-1 by Brighton & Hove Albion Under-21s
- Sammy Braybrooke opened the scoring AMEX Elite Football Performance Centre
- Julio Enciso and Andrew Moran (2) won the PL2 encounter for the home side
- Coach Ben Petty was disappointed to leave the south coast empty handed
An inch-perfect Sammy Braybrooke free-kick handed the visitors at AMEX Elite Football Performance Centre a first-half lead, but Julio Enciso’s equaliser, and an Andrew Moran double, saw the Seagulls claim all three Premier League 2 Division 1 points.
Speaking to LCFC TV in the aftermath of Monday afternoon’s game, City’s coach came away frustrated not to make the most of a promising opening half on the south coast.
Analysing the defeat, he said: “I think it was us failing to capitalise on the chances we created and then obviously Brighton scored a really good goal against the run of play and then we gifted them a goal with a defensive lapse.
“It was really a story of the chances not being taken and not being clinical enough today. I was quite pleased with the way we started the game. I think we played on the front foot and we got to grips with the press.
“I thought Brighton moved it really well across the backline, but they weren't causing us too many problems. But when you come here, you know you're going to have to play well and we did first off and unfortunately we just couldn't quite get in at half-time 1-0 up.
“Then we've paid for that second half with two defensive lapses. I was disappointed in the second half and therefore we've gone on and not got anything out of the game. Of course, that's disappointing.”
A strong display was expected given recent performances and results, with two successive home draws against Celtic and Manchester City and the reintroduction of more senior players into the XI at Brighton, including Lewis Brunt, Kasey McAteer and Braybrooke.
He continued: “We went into the game with a lot of confidence, and I thought those three were terrific, to be honest, and I thought they did their best to really raise the level of the team.
“But the other guys in the team have to also step up their level as well. Unfortunately, in the second half, we couldn't quite do that.”
With a short break from PL2 action until entertaining Crystal Palace at LCFC Training Ground on Monday 13 February (7pm GMT kick-off), Petty sees it a good chance to iron out recent errors on the training pitch.
The 45-year-old added: “We've got two home games to look forward to, and we're going to need to try and take maximum points in them two games, for sure.
“We've got a friendly next week, so we'll keep the lads ticking over, but it's time to work again, and we'll have to review this game and get over it pretty quickly.”