City's Checkatrade Trophy Journey So Far

Development Squad
17 Jan 2018
4 Minutes
As Leicester City prepare to face Oldham Athletic in Round 3 of the Checkatrade Trophy, LCFC.com takes a look at their journey so far...

Following a 2-1 success at Scunthorpe United last month, the Foxes will travel to Boundary Park to attempt to reach the Quarter-Final stage.

Fleetwood Town 3-0 City
Tuesday 29 April
Highbury Stadium

City’s campaign opened with a 3-0 reverse at Fleetwood Town, a disappointing result, but one which served as motivation for Steve Beaglehole’s men to go on a wonderful run of form in all competitions. 

Strikes from Godswill Ekpolo and Baily Cargill, either side of half time, put the Cod Army in a commanding position before a Wes Burns rocket made sure of the result at Highbury Stadium.

The Foxes, without international quartet Daniel Iversen, Alex Pascanu, Darnell Johnson and George Thomas, fielded a youthful side with four Academy scholars on the bench.

Despite the result going against City in Lancashire, defender Sam Hughes impressed on his competitive debut for the Club’s Development Squad after suffering an ankle ligaments injury.

Hughes, signed from National League side Chester in the summer, had previously been forced to watch on as his colleagues enjoyed promising results against Everton and Manchester City in Premier League 2.

Carlisle United 0-1 City
Tuesday 3 October
Brunton Park

A 1-0 victory over Carlisle United restored the Foxes’ hope of reaching Round 2 with Layton Ndukwu finding the net in the first half at Brunton Park.

City were once again without Pascanu, Thomas, Iversen and Johnson while the Sky Bet League 2 side made eight changes from their 1-0 win at Crawley three days previously.

Despite a gulf in experience between the two sides, it was Leicester who dominated the early proceedings with a succession of industrious advances into the Cumbrians’ half.

We have got a lot of momentum as well. Hopefully we can take this into the league. It’s just about maintaining it now.

Layton Ndukwu

Against more senior, Football League defenders, Ndukwu ran amok on the flanks for the Foxes, acting as Carlisle’s tormentor-in-chief for much of the match.

The former England Under-17s international was City’s main outlet and he applied a neat finish to a devastating counter early on to send Beaglehole’s men on their way to three points.

Morecambe 2-2 City (4-2 pens)
Tuesday 7 November
Globe Arena

While initially frustrated by a 4-2 defeat on penalties, the one point gained from a 2-2 draw in 90 minutes at Morecambe was ultimately enough for the Foxes to progress.

Garry Thompson fired the Shrimps into an early lead before efforts from Ndukwu and Josh Knight put City on the cusp of securing all three points.

With seconds of the 90 remaining, however, Elliott Osborne found the net to take the match to penalties.

While captain Hamza Choudhury and substitute Raul Uche Rubio were able to beat Danijel Nizic from 12 yards, Michael Rose, Sam Lavelle, Osborne and Adam Campbell converted for the hosts.

Despite a shoot-out defeat, City were awarded one point - which saw them climb to second in Northern Group A, a position that was confirmed 24 hours later.

Scunthorpe United 1-2 City
Tuesday 5 December
Glanford Park

City booked their place in the last-16 of the competition with a 2-1 success at Scunthorpe United early in December.

Summer additions Thomas and Hughes found the net for the Foxes in the opening 12 minutes at Glanford Park before a consolation strike from Kevin Van Veen.

Up against Sky Bet League 1 opposition, Steve Beaglehole had Kelechi Iheanacho, Leonardo Ulloa, Ben Hamer, Dan Amartey, Yohan Benalouane and Aleksandar Dragović among his side.

It was Graham Alexander's Iron who threatened most in the latter stages, though, with Clayton Lewis first rattling the woodwork before forcing Hamer into a save with five minutes to play.

The City stopper was called upon at the very end, saving well to keep out a low half-volley from Lewis to seal safe passage for his side.

In Round 3, the Under-21s will face Oldham Athletic, managed by former Foxes midfielder Richie Wellens, at Boundary Park.