Trevor Peake lavished praise on his Leicester City defence after they progressed to The FA Youth Cup Fifth Round on Monday night with a 1-0 win over Chesterfield.
A 12th minute goal from second year apprentice Keenan King (pictured) proved the difference between the sides. Despite hitting the woodwork on three occasions in the opening period, the Foxes were forced to defend “stoutly” after the break to deny the Spireites an equaliser.
“It was a bit more of a struggle than it should have been by not getting a second goal, especially in the first half,” Peake said.
“Fair play to Chesterfield because they came out and had a go. We warned the players that Chesterfield would come out (in the) second half all guns blazing, so we had to defend quite stoutly at times.
“If one of those shots (that hit the woodwork) went in then the task would have been less difficult. The opposition were buoyed by that and it made them more confident to come at us.”
He continued: “In the first 15 minutes of the second half they let us know it wouldn’t be an easy ride. I thought our two centre-halves Cedric Kipre and Elliott Moore defended really well in the centre of that defence.
“It called upon the midfield players to do some tracking back and trying to get back on to the ball as well. There was a lot of work put in to secure that clean sheet.”
Leicester will now face either Everton or Southampton in the next round of the competition. To watch highlights from their victory over Chesterfield click play below:
