FA Youth Cup V Wolves 6 December 2006

[Leicester Lass]

1-1

[Bert]

It looks as if Magunda went off with a very nasty gash to his left thigh.

Extra time being played.

[Jonbluefox9]

It looks as if Magunda went off with a very nasty gash to his left thigh.

Extra time being played.

Sounds bad. He's been playing well this season and if the OS is right, he was captain for tonight. Shame for the lad.

Only just seen the pics. Does look nasty.

[Bert]

How come you're not there Jon?

[Leicester Lass]

2-1 Wolves

[Jonbluefox9]

How come you're not there Jon?

Got an exam tomorrow and I was going to have to make my own way home. Good job I didn't go now because I might have missed the last bus back if it goes all the way to penalties like last year.

[Floating Fox]

1-2

[MBK]

Well good luck to the lads hope they do win something at least, they deserve it.

[Leicester Lass]

FT:

Leicester 1-2 wolves

[Floating Fox]

The shirt looks wierd with walkers on it again

[filbertway]

Where was the attacking football and 4 goals ?

[Bert]

I'm sure they'll be some 5hit excuse, probably because Gradel wasn't playing.

[Jonbluefox9]

We demolished Bristol City a few weeks ago without Gradel and they've won one more game than Wolves have so far this season and lost the same amount. I wasn't at the game so don't know whether it was just a bad night but maybe the quality of some of the teams in our division should be questionned?

[Mark]

For whatever reason we just can't seem to get anywhere in this competition, despite our incredible league form. It's not because they're not good enough, league form and goals for speak for itself.

Lack of Reserve team football is bound to have an effect, at least that way they are getting to play at various stadiums around the country. This season it's been training ground games every week, that's no preparation for a Youth Cup game in a 32,000 seater stadium, albeit a near empty one.

[davieG]

A few pictures from the stand

[Libertine]

Chambo and Rowley.

[Thracian]

I don't think there'll be any excuses. Leicester conceded an equaliser with the very last kick of the 90 minutes and then a dreadful mistake by Scott Garner gifted Wolves a simple winner in the second half of extra time.

It all looked a bit of a relief and an impending formality when Odhiambo fed Billy McKay for a clinical finish which seemed enough to thwart Wolves dogged resistance midway through the second half of normal time.

Tommy Tejan-Sie had earlier had a goal disallowed after being put through by Andy King and Odhiambo had smashed a shot against athe Wolves crossbar which must have bounced threequarters of the way over the line but somehow Wolves seemed destined to frustrate Leicester.

Wolves' last kick equaliser was a decent move from the halfway line but so many Leicester players had the chance to frustrate the attack in was almost comic and finally the finish appeared to be deflected into the net past Carl Pentney.

If I give the impression it was one way football that's not true. In fact goalkeeper Pentney had an excellent game, making at least six good to excellent saves because the Wolves finishing was invariably accurate.

But there would have been no doubt who dominated the shots count, particularly in the second half when McKay got his goal and Leicester seemed to throw off their inhibitions and play with the speed, flair and imagination that is their trademark.

Individually during this spell right winger Kraig Rochester and number 10 Odhiambo showed some marvellous skills and carved out some clever openings but there was always the massed ranks of Wolves defenders to cope with and they either blocked or deflected everything.

The eventual winner was a sickener. Garner simply seemed to lose his footing, concentration, whatever and get caught in possession 35 yards from goal allowing the Wolves forward to win a simple one and against one with Pentney.

Leicester's defence was always likely to be their Achilles heel, but not at all because of their attack-based philosophy. In fact they were more cautious than usual tonight and there seemed to be a gap between defence and midfield at times. Regular centre-back and skipper Scott Lycett was too old to play forcing a pre-kick-off shuffling of the defence.

When stand-in skippper and centre-back Joe Magunda was forced off just before half-time with a badly gashed thigh Joe Mattock was deployed into central defence and the back line looked strange indeed.

They still coped reasonably well, Wolves rarely carved a genuine opening, but that casual mistake by Garner just maintained the air of misery which still to hang over the Walkers these days.

There were plus points. Anyone doubting Andy King's credentials as a midfield player should have filmed his box to box performance. Shots, headers, interceptions galore and all the time it was King prompting and probing only to see move after move frustrated. He looked a genuinely accomplished footballer.

Tom Tejan-Sie worked himself to a standstill in the midfield supporting role and Ryan Beswick launched every type of cross and penetrating pass into the Wolves penalty box for no reward but sheeer frustration.

The end result though was another defeat at the first hurdle of the FA Youth Cup against opposition Leicester would normally expect to beat by three or four. It was their second defeat of the season and in the end the side proved that the absence of Gradel, Lycett and Chambers just took the edge off their finishing power.

Ratings:

Pentney 8.5 (Smashing game. No chance with the goals and some quality saves)

Mattock 6.5 (Right-back, centre back he worked hard but was not at his best)

Lathaniel Rowe-Turner 6 (Workmanlike)

Tom Tejan-Sie 8 (Endless energy and effect. One who might make it)

Joe Magunda 6 (Injury spoilt a potentially good game)

Scott Garner 4 (Needless error cost the match)

Kraig Rochester 7.5 (Some memorable runs failed to bring enough return)

Andy King 9.5 (Outfield MoM by a distance)

Billy McKay 7.5 (Clinical goal and some slick and thoughtful touches. Linked well with Odhiambo)

Eric Odhiambo 6.5 (Patchy by his standards but made the goal and featured in some excellent moves)

Ryan Beswick 7.5 (accurate crosses and passing throughout. Always posed problems for Wolves)

Subs: Fraser Tuttle 6 (Okay in defence)

Craig King 6 (Promising under 16)

Lee Cox 5 (Not enough time to have an impact)

[RowlattsFox]

Pentney 8 (some good saves and a good kick with direction)

Mattock 6 (liked the look of him early on but when he moved to centre back didn't seem to comfortable)

Lathaniel Rowe-Turner 6 (did nothing wrong)

Tom Tejan-Sie 9 (i was impressed, never stopped running, MOM)

Joe Magunda 6 (solid enough)

Scott Garner 6 (did ok until his fatal mistake, some no nonsense defending)

Kraig Rochester 7 (plenty of tricks, got in some tackles aswel)

Andy King 8 ( good game, nothing realy fell for him in the box though)

Billy McKay 7.5 (fantastic work rate, good finish, got a bit stroppy at times when things didn't work)

Eric Odhiambo 6 (some good things and then some bad)

Ryan Beswick 7.5 (i quite liked him, good crosses and worked well with mckay)

Subs: Fraser Tuttle 7 (did well)

Craig King 5 (hardly touched the ball)

Lee Cox 6 (did well in his short spell)

[Bert]

Chambo and Rowley.

I'm guessing they kept Mitch on then??

Because i knew he was injured or something, and heard that he only had so long to prove himself??

[Libertine]

I'm guessing they kept Mitch on then??

Because i knew he was injured or something, and heard that he only had so long to prove himself??

Yeh I think I remember him saying about an injury one time. Didnt know about that though.

[Thracian]

Pentney 8 (some good saves and a good kick with direction)

Mattock 6 (liked the look of him early on but when he moved to centre back didn't seem to comfortable)

Lathaniel Rowe-Turner 6 (did nothing wrong)

Tom Tejan-Sie 9 (i was impressed, never stopped running, MOM)

Joe Magunda 6 (solid enough)

Scott Garner 6 (did ok until his fatal mistake, some no nonsense defending)

Kraig Rochester 7 (plenty of tricks, got in some tackles aswel)

Andy King 8 ( good game, nothing realy fell for him in the box though)

Billy McKay 7.5 (fantastic work rate, good finish, got a bit stroppy at times when things didn't work)

Eric Odhiambo 6 (some good things and then some bad)

Ryan Beswick 7.5 (i quite liked him, good crosses and worked well with mckay)

Subs: Fraser Tuttle 7 (did well)

Craig King 5 (hardly touched the ball)

Lee Cox 6 (did well in his short spell)

You're absolutely right about King. It would be extraordinary for a statistician to have counted how many times he got into the box for a header, shot, half-shot, deflected shot and what have you.

Nothing was going to sit right but I honestly doubt that I've ever seen a midfielder knock up so many efforts.

The ground he covered for such a biggish bloke was amazing. Made me feel knackered just watching - and TeeJay must have clocked up a similar distance. Whatever they've been feeding em on I wouldn't mind some.

[The People's Hero]

So Thracian...

Is Beaglehole still the man to take the full side to one attacking victory after another?

[Thracian]

So Thracian...

Is Beaglehole still the man to take the full side to one attacking victory after another?

I wrote a piece about exactly that but got some sort of server error and lost the thing.

But let's put it this way.

This was the most exciting game I've watched at the Walkers for ages and Leicester must have had 30-40 shots.

We scored one, had one disallowed hit the bar and played some clever and skillful interpassing football, as well as making some mistakes.

Beaglehole never stopped encouraging, explaining, demonstrating, cajoling, imploring and organising his players who all ran themselves to a standstill.

We lost our grasp on victory - basically on the last kick of the game.

But if you had managed a team this season to 13 wins, two defeats and two draws and were top of a League by six points with a +32 goals difference, how would you expect to be regarded?

Our defence was decimated tonight anyway but if anything, our failure to really capitalise once we took the lead was our undoing.

We just never quite had the overwhelming attitude which normally prevails in our team and that, I think, was due to the loss of our driving influence in our defence Scott Lycett.

We should still have won but even the greatest managers sometimes lose games despite fairly overwhelming dominance especially at certain stages.

Nothing I saw of Beaglehole today - or the efforts of his team - would cause me to lose faith in him in any way.

And as for King's performance. Simply as good an all-round effort from a midfielder as I've seen here in years.

I am not kidding - he had more shots in one 2-hour game than Sylla or Low have had in their entire career here and more than Hughes or Tiatto or Williams or Wesolowski muster in a couple of months. And not one of them would fall easy as another poster has already observed although the Wolves defenders had something to do with that.

PS: I've no idea if Beaglehole would want to be Leicester's manager. But I liked his football the same in defeat as in victory, apart from the score. And, although it only reflects the standards they usually set, that was close to the worst I've seen them play collectively.