Report & Highlights: Young Eagles held in Leicester

Summary

• Quinn made two changes to the side, with Adams-Collman and Whyte coming in

• Leicester score early, but it’s ruled out for offside

• Whyte heads first Palace attempt on goal

• Dashi opens the scoring 15 minutes in

• Marsh and Dashi both have attempts to double the lead in the first-half

• HT: Leicester 0-1 Palace

• Grante puts in strong recovery challenge to deny Evans

• Leicester equalise through Toure in the 55th minute

• Chances are few and far between in the second-half

• Derry hits the bar late on

• FT:  Leicester 1-1 Palace

Two weeks on from the 6-1 thrashing of Liverpool in the U18 Premier League Cup, the young Eagles were back in league action with a trip to Leicester City.

Head coach Rob Quinn made two changes to the side which triumphed over Liverpool, with Kai-Reece Adams-Collman and Tyler Whyte coming in for Caleb Kporha and Hindolo Mustapha.

Palace were threatened early on as Leicester had the ball in the back of the net with just over a minute played, however it was ruled out for offside against one of their forwards.

Tyler Whyte, who made an appearance off the bench for the Under-21s in their 6-2 win over Middlesbrough yesterday, had the first chance of the game for Palace, though his header was well saved by Harry French in the Leicester goal.

The young Eagles took the lead a quarter of an hour in through Matteo Dashi. Built up from the back, Rio Cardines played a ball over the top for Jesse Derry to latch onto. The winger held off a challenge and cut it back across into the path of Dashi who lashed home inside the box.

A goal to the good, Palace went in search of another to double their lead. The in-form captain Zach Marsh saw two of his strikes go wide of the mark, while Dashi was denied by a second by the Leicester defence.

The south Lononders went into the break with a slender lead and were almost caught out early on in the second-half. A strong recovery tackle from Jake Grante kept Reece Evans at bay.

Leicester were knocking at the door in their pursuit of an equaliser early on in the second-half. Tommy Neale fired just over the bar as they continued to pile on the pressure.

The hosts eventually found a way through and equalised 10 minutes after the interval. Tristan Thomas drove down the left-hand side towards the byline and picked out Yassin Toure with a cross. The Leicester forward headed in from close range.

Palace almost responded immediately after conceding. Cardines won the ball back high up the pitch and pulled a cross into the box. It fell kindly to Dashi who struck it first time, though his effort was blocked by the Leicester defence.

Both sides mustered half-chances as the game went on, struggling to find a clear breakthrough to reclaim the lead. Reece Evans and Toby Ononaye had efforts for Leicester that were no issue for Billy Eastwood in the Palace goal.

With just over 10 minutes remaining, Derry hit the bar. Seb Williams found him out on the left hand side and the winger managed to flick it over his marker before racing towards the box. His strike beat the recovering defender and goalkeeper, but struck the bar.

The game trickled towards stoppage time and aside from a blocked effort from Marsh, there were no other attempts on goal. The result means Quinn’s side slip to second in the U18 Premier League South on seven points, two behind leaders Fulham.

Leicester: French (GK), Khela, McAlinney, Gray (Lawrence, 67), Dyke, Donnelly (Otchere, 72), Neale, Thomas, Ononaye, Toure (J. Evans, 84), R. Evans.

Subs not used: McNab (GK), Lourieiro

Palace: Eastwood (GK), Adams-Collman, Grante, King, Cardines, Austin (Mustapha, 60), Williams, Dashi (Redhead, 74), Whyte, Marsh, Derry (Omobolaji, 87).

Subs not used: Hill (GK), Elliott.