Good showing from the youngsters but Foxes too strong
Leicester City 5 Shrewsbury Town 1
Final Third Development League Cup
Head of youth coaching Bernard McNally and Academy manager Steve Reece took charge of a young Town reserve team against in-form Leicester City in their last game of the group stages of the Final Third Development League Cup.
Having already been beaten by Port Vale and Doncaster in this competition, the clash with the Foxes always promised to be a tough one for a side made up entirely of youth teamers.
The game was switched to the impressive surroundings of the Ricoh Arena, Coventry City's former home ground, after bad weather left the original venue waterlogged.
Town started well and were in the game for the first 30 minutes, giving a good account of themselves before Leicester grabbed two quick goals.
The first was from an angled drive and the second from a penalty.
The second half pretty much mirrored the first with Town again having their moments but the finishing of Leicester was the real difference between the sides.
Leicester moved 3-0 ahead before Town pulled one back through Kaiman Anderson after Scott Ryan pulled the ball back.
Town continued to push and look to create chances but any hopes of a comeback ended when Leicester added two more late goals.
"The lads put in a great performance," said Academy manager Reece.
"You might look at the scoreline and think that strange but they did us proud.
“Leicester had to keep changing their formation to counter us and in the end as they are a big physical team they resorted to hitting long balls and using their aerial strength.
“We had chances and if we had taken them things might have turned out differently but overall the lads pushed Leicester all the way.”
SHREWSBURY: C. Burton, Carpenter (Watkins 45), Richards, Fletcher, Smith, B. Burton, Easthope (Ryan), Flint, Hickman, Anderson, Ginnelly (Jones 65). Unused subs: Rowley, Ashton,