Under-18s in seventh heaven at Leicester

Stuart Lewis' side put on a stunning show to beat Leicester City 7-0 in the Under-18 Premier League on Saturday lunchtime (26 April).

Tynan Thompson opened the scoring after just seven minutes before Ellis Lehane doubled our lead four minutes later, the striker setting himself on the way to a hat-trick.

A well worked free-kick from Harry Byrne then allowed Jun'ai Byfield to extend our advantage before half-time.

The second half was equally dominant as Miracle Adewole added a fourth two minutes after the restart and Lehane made it five four minutes later.

Both of those goals were created by Luca Williams-Barnett, who was also on target with our sixth, before Lehane completed his treble - and the scoring - from the penalty spot 11 minutes from time.

The result - our biggest win at this level since March, 2022, and the first time we've scored seven in the Under-18 Premier League since October, 2023 - leaves us six points behind leaders Chelsea with three games in hand.

We started brightly and found the breakthrough just seven minutes into the first half, as Thompson carried the ball down the left, beating his man at the edge of the area before firing it low and hard across the keeper to give us the lead. Williams-Barnett then had an effort saved at close range two minutes later, before Lehane doubled our advantage. Thompson was again involved, this time providing the assist with a perfectly-weighted cross, which Lehane met with a pinpoint header to fire it back across the keeper and in.

Williams-Barnett then threatened again, having an effort from the edge of the six-yard box plucked out of the top left corner by Jake Donohue in the Leicester goal. From the resulting corner, Ronny Moncur was brought down on the edge of the area and Byrne played a sublime through ball from the free-kick, finding Byfield who had drifted through the Leicester line and he calmly took a touch before slotting home to put us 3-0 up.

At the other end, Sam Archer was equal to a tame effort from the Foxes’ top scorer Lorenz Hutchinson, before George Feeney fired over from the edge of the box, as we went in at the interval firmly in control, but only after some excellent work from Byfield saw his sliding challenge bring a Foxes counter attack to a sharp halt.

It didn’t take long for us to score again upon the restart, Thompson and Williams-Barnett linking up down the left before the latter shrugged off his man and pulled it back to the arriving Adewole who buried it, first-time, into the bottom left corner just two minutes into the second half. Four minutes later Lehane bagged his second and our fifth of the game, Williams-Barnett again creating the opportunity with a visionary ball over the top, which saw the striker sit his man down before firing it into the top right corner to extend our lead.

Moncur was the next to be played through on goal, he charged into the box to go one-on-one with Donohue, but saw his effort towards the bottom right corner saved. The Leicester keeper was then called into action again to produce a stunning double save from a corner to keep out both Moncur and then Williams-Barnett from incredibly close range.

Lehane nearly scored his third of the game when he was played into the left-hand side of the box by Williams-Barnett, but saw an audacious effort with the outside of his foot curl just wide of the far post.

Williams-Barnett then got the goal he deserved with 71 minutes on the clock, again linking up with Thompson before taking on the shot from a tight angle out on the left, with his low effort enough to beat the keeper and put us 6-0 up.

Our final goal came through the work of substitute Dan Batty, whose shot struck an outstretched arm inside the penalty area and the ball was subsequently handed to Lehane who dutifully buried the spot-kick into the bottom right corner to complete his hat-trick and round out the scoring.