MBK Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Well done lads. Won it on Penalties 4-3! Excellent. Congrats to the staff, players and fans of the academy setup. Wohhoooo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tevez Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Well Done Leicester City Academy, fair play to all the boys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooly Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Absolutely disgusted by the coverage given to this from the LCFC side. Pretty furious to be honest. Such a big achievement and not even a mention.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Absolutely disgusted by the coverage given to this from the LCFC side. Pretty furious to be honest. Such a big achievement and not even a mention.. I had to follow it via the Sunderland site. Good for them, boo for the City site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandannieldanok Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Absolutely disgusted by the coverage given to this from the LCFC side. Pretty furious to be honest. Such a big achievement and not even a mention.. Agreed, if it wasn't for Foxestalk I would probably have had no clue about today's final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBK Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Agreed, if it wasn't for Foxestalk I would probably have had no clue about today's final. You know you were born on the same day as me? Eh? We're spesil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lildave3 Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Well done lads, quality achievement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milky Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Sunderland had 7 first year scholars. It's been like that for all teams this season, we've been full of older lads. Takes a bit away from the achievement, but it's still great to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonbluefox9 Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Sunderland had 7 first year scholars. It's been like that for all teams this season, we've been full of older lads. Takes a bit away from the achievement, but it's still great to see. It's a point that you're right to make. It is a good achievement but quite a few of our players should be at a later stage of their development than the players they're up against. Players like King and Gradel in particular have done very well this season but they're at the stage of their development where if they weren't shining then there wouldn't be much hope for them making it at LCFC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryn Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Yeah it's the way things have gone, our team is a lot more experienced than most. Doesn't detract from the fact that they're talented players though. Hopefully a few of them break through next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxy1984 Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Agreed, if it wasn't for Foxestalk I would probably have had no clue about today's final. To be fair it was mentioned on the OS quite a lot to be honest! The coverage today was poor though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filbertboy Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 well done boys !!! congrats to all involved!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonbluefox9 Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Yeah it's the way things have gone, our team is a lot more experienced than most. Doesn't detract from the fact that they're talented players though. Hopefully a few of them break through next year. If you're at a professional football club at the age of 16 upwards you've got talent, however little or great it is. I'm pretty sure Gradel is 19 now. He's an example of a player who if he wasn't shining in games against 16 and 17 year olds at the age of 19 then you'd begin to question whether he's got what it takes to make it here. Thankfully for him he's had a great season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Fan Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 So how come people like Gradel (who is 19 and a half) can play in the Under 18 Final? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyB Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 So how come people like Gradel (who is 19 and a half) can play in the Under 18 Final? Could it be that he was 18 at the start? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Could it be that he was 18 at the start? That would mean it started 18 months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonbluefox9 Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 So how come people like Gradel (who is 19 and a half) can play in the Under 18 Final? I think clubs are allowed to field a certain amount of over-age players, possibly two, in their under 18 sides. A couple of seasons ago we lost to a Watford under 18 side that had a player who was either 20 years old or very nearly 20 if I remember correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxes_Trust Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 We should be featuring 2 match reports on our website later, the fans providing the reports are both from this message board, you should be able to work out who from earlier posts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonbluefox9 Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 We should be featuring 2 match reports on our website later, the fans providing the reports are both from this message board, you should be able to work out who from earlier posts Should be a really balanced account of events then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Should be a really balanced account of events then... As balanced as the Sunderland accounts appeared? Hats off to the lads. FINALLY some success to celebrate this season. Well done. It bodes very well for the future of this football club . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thracian Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Just got back - decided to have a look around while I was there - cracking match. Attendance 4,547 - all but perhaps 100 (mostly the families of Leicester players) from Sunderland! Joe Mattock scuffed in the winning penalty in the shoot-out after extra-time to give us a trip to Dallas as Academy League champions. I'll knock up an account in the next half-hour or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webbo Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Well done to the lads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thracian Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 Super game, drama almost from first kick til Mattock's winning penalty in the shoot out - and the joyous outcome was that Leicester head to a prestigious international tournament in Dallas, USA as Academy League champions. Max Gradel stunned the 4,597 crowd in the fourth minute with his 19th goal in 21 matches and what a goal it was - a sublime fast-passing move down the right involving Eric Odhiambo and Billy McKay before Gradel cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable left footer. Hopes of a typical Leicester onslaught disappeared immediately however as, within a minute Sunderland won a corner and Jordan Henderson's high and curling cross deceived Carl Pentney passin over his head and into the far corner of the net. One-one with five minutes gone. Leicester left-winger Ryan Beswick then had what looked like a reasonable claim for a penalty turned down barely two minutes later and that's how the game developed. Opportunities were as numerous as the Chance cards in a monopoly game. At this stage Leicester's front men looked ominously threatening and Odhiambo was next to waste a close range chance by handling the final through ball after work by Andy King and Beswick. Sunderland's response should have given them the lead. Centre-forward Dave Dowson hit a shot from close range which Pentney failed to hold and with an open goal beckoning, Josh Home-Jackson smashed the ball gleefully for goal only to amaze the crowd and himself by seeing it thunder against the right hand post and out to safety. Leicester rode more luck when Sunderland's swift-breaking midfield put Nathan Luscombe 's through and, although he was crowded into a toe poke across goal it fell to Home-Jackson who somehow pulled his shot wide of the left post from eight yards. It really was a tale of two attacks because both defences were being ripped to shreds. McKay's first touch passing was causing havoc and no sooner had he created one effort which Odhiambo flashed wide than he gave City the lead himself by rounding off a brilliant four-man attack with Andy King feeding the final ball for the simplest of finishes. It was McKay's 17th goal in 22 games. It was all non-stop entertainment and to detail every chance and half-chance would fill a small book but the irrepressible Billy McKay, had two marvelous opportunities to perhaps settle the game. First a pass by Scott Lycett beat the Sunderland back-line but McKay delayed his shot and it was half-blocked - looping harmlessly clear. His second chance was better still as this time he spun off the last defender, found himself central and completely clear in the box only to have his apparent tap in smothered by keeper Trevor Carson. For the rest of the second half - at least half an hour - it seemed like Leicester would regret their carelessness. Sunderland, clearly schooled by Roy Keane in the Manchester United mould stretched Leicester so far on the flanks that their wingers could have sold programmes to the fans and, with an overlapping right-back also causing havoc they dominated the game as I've rarely seen against Leicester's Under 18's before. Left-winger Nathan Luscombe delivered a series of the best crosses from near the byeline that you will ever see. Two flashed untouched across the city six yard line, another cross resulted in a header which hit Pentney's crossbar and finally, after 80 minutes defender Robbie Weir launched himself forward to meet a Jordan Henderson cross with a powerful downward header that was never going to be saved. On top of all this Andy King made one vital interception, headed another goalbound effort off the line after a great save by Pentney, Lycett made a couple of last ditch blocks, Scott Garner did the same and Leicester started to looked exhausted, frail and battered. Extra-time was a bit of an anti-climax. Half-chances came and went but basically no-one had the energy left to score because, like two evenly-matched boxers in a bare knuckle fight they had simply traded blows to the point where no-one had the energy to delivery a knock-out. The penalties shoot-out came and Leicester goalkeeper Carl Pentney was a hero straight away, saving Jack Colback's first effort to put pressure on Sunderland. With centre-back Gavin Donaghue looping Sunderland's third penalty high and weakly wide of goal and Ashley Chambers, Eric Odhiambo and Max Gradel having professionally despatched three kicks for Leicester the visitors led 3-1. Luscombe scored for 3-2, Lycett's well-hit shot for Leicester was saved, Michael Kay made it 3-3 with Sunderland's last scheduled kick and that left Leicester left-back Joe Mattock the chance to take the trophy. His kick was hardly convincing - scuffed weakly and towards the right corner but he'd deceived Carson, in the ball went and the tickets to America were booked. In the match heroes? Arguably all of them for winning a prestigious competiton but - fabulous game as it was - this wasn't City at their best. Billy McKay was top man for me for his goal and for orchestrating lots of clever first hour moves with his subtle one-touch passing. Yes he missed two chances he should have taken but once he was substituted Odhiambo barely functioned again and Leicester's attack looked irrecoverably blunted. Another top man was right-back Lee Cox. He's come into the side with the departure of Tom Tejan-Sie and how City miss that little dynamo in midfield. Cox had to handle midfield duties and later the dangerous Luscombe at right-back and in both departments he steadied City when they were faltering. Gradel deserves mention for his superb goal and for being a constant and highly skillful threat to Sunderland's back line for the best part of an hour before cramp and the result of one or two whacks took its toll. I've promised not to do player assessments for Academy players generally but this final was a bit special so I'll compile them in a separate thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dames Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 I had faith in you Thrac. When others said you wasn't this dedicated i told them not to give up on you yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thracian Posted 20 May 2007 Share Posted 20 May 2007 I had faith in you Thrac.When others said you wasn't this dedicated i told them not to give up on you yet. Thanks. My missus was terrific. We should have been working this morning but as soon as I mentioned the football she feigned a bad back and insisted she didn't really fancy making it worse by working anyway! Truly I could never find another like her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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