Reserves player ratings v Stoke.

[Thracian]

Henderson 7 (Never stopped cajolling his defenders and getting them to defend high. Made one good stop at the near post but generally had a quiet but competent night. Looked as if he enjoyed it as the team did generally).

James Chambers 7 (One bit of dribbling in central defence was almost costly but he was a giant defensively, really fast and determined in the tackle. Got forward with enthusiasm but was never convincing. Sometimes ignored the easy pass outside him and was rarely accurate with his final ball).

Scott Garner 6.5 (Had a goal disallowed early on from Sheehan's corner and generally posed a genuine threat going forward to set pieces. He also tried to pass the ball out of defence early on which was a step forward. Defensively he contested everything in the air against some giant opponents. Had he not miscontrolled a ball that should have gone into row Z presenting Parkin a run through on goal which he wasted, it would have been as good as I've seen from him play. But it's something he's prone too and he'll need to sort it).

Rowe-Turner 6 (Sound enough against testing opposition but a bit clumsy in conceding what was still probably a harsh penalty)

Sheehan 8 (Rarely took more than two touches, tackled well, involved in one of the goals and so nearly two others, contributed to endless attacks and varied his corners so thoughtfully to combat Stoke's giant defenders. Genuine quality).

Craig King 6.5 (This lad is learning fast and listening. Just seems to be contributing a little more each time I see him)

Lee Cox 8 (Commanding display in midfield. His strength, stamina and determination are well known now and he offered good support and awareness too. A genuine first team prospect in my view, perhaps even this season towards the end).

Andy King 8 (Memorable goal, so close to an equally outstanding follow up, he and Cox wrested control of midfield and kept it).

Beswick 7 (How the Reserves miss this lad when he's not there. Intelligent player who provides much needed width and support to everyone. He's a player his team-mates trust cos he tries to do the right thing simply and quickly. Good to see him back and starting to look fit again. Added another assist to the many before being subbed).

Billy McKay 8 (Well-taken goal, lost his defenders to find two more brilliant chances that should have given him a hat-trick and made some terrific runs to provide an outlet from defence. His best game for a while and it could so easily have been a 10, and he knows it).

Fryatt 7 (One assist and an enthusiastic, sometimes excellent first hour before his subsitution. One snap shot might have given him a goal. Worked hard within the team.)

Subs:

Jorrin John 7 (This boy deserved an assist from a really cultured cross to McKay and even such a brief glimpse shows a player of speed, awareness and genuine talent).

Robbie Burns 5.5 (Just fitted in competently towards the end and helped maintain Leicester's free-flowing football which occasionally involved 10 or 12 passes strung together).

Altogether an enjoyable and entertaining evening with lots of incident and a team that looked like it belonged to a football club. Every one of the players with first team experience showed it and set exactly the right attitude to those around them.

[Geo V]

Cheers for the ratings but three threads on the Ressies???!

[AyewJoking]

nothing else to talk about

[johnnycash]

Henderson 7

James Chambers 8 - I thought he was our best defender by a long way. I actually think that Thracs is being a little over-critical. Given that they guy hasn't trained at right-back for almost all of Ollie's reign, he still looked more comfortable than our present First team Right-Back

Scott Garner 6.5 Did really well against strong oppo

Rowe-Turner 6 One bad decison cost him a better mark

Sheehan 7.5 Great set -pieces. An easy night down the left as that was Stoke's weakest department by far. Still not convinced that he has the quality (obvioulsy other than at set-pieces) to make it at this level.

Craig King 6.5 Only a first year Academy lad, and as Thracs says is getting better all the time.

Lee Cox 8 This lad has got to be given a two year pro contract. Strong, committed, and getting better and better when asked to move from his natural right back berth into midfiled. MAN OF THE MATCH

Andy King 8 Outstanding goal from a young man who has the qwuality to go a long way in the game. It's a shame that he had to make his first team appearances when so many senior midfileders were absent.

Beswick 7

Billy McKay 7.5 (Well-taken goal. Proved that he could do the bizz without Eric. Best performance in a while

Fryatt 7.5

Subs:

Jorrin John 7

Robbie Burns 5.5

[Thracian]

Interesting what you say about Sheehan cos the more I reflected on it the more I felt his effort Wednesday was as good an all-round display of wing-back football as I'd seen. Not that I particularly wanted to focus on it. There were so many players who contributed to what I felt was an admirable display - even lesser knowns like Garner and Rowe-Turner.

Being perfectly honest I've always felt Garner looked like the most unnatural footballer I've seen in a City shirt and it was a long time before I saw anything in him. But he's shown character, no question and deserved a lot of credit for limiting the effect of some big, experienced players against Stoke.

Yes, he made his one big cock-up and it was never realistic to expect either him or Rowe-Turner to keep Parkin completely quiet but both did a valiant job.

Happily though they had far more accomplished players around them than they've been used to right through from full-back to centre-forward and it was the teamwork which impresed me most overall. The side looked together and played together.