Match report: Leicester City 1-1 Arsenal U-18s

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WHAT HAPPENED

Amani Richards scored his first goal at under-18 level on Saturday as we were held to a 1-1 draw by Leicester City.

With the games coming thick and fast for our under-18s and under-23s, Ken Gillard was forced into a number of key changes, with only Zach Awe remaining from our 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Tuesday.

Three schoolboys were named in our starting XI in Richards, Reuell Walters and Bradley Ibrahim, while Kristopher Elian Quesada-Thorn and Kaleel Green made their debuts.

Keep to impress, our youngsters started well at the Leicester City Training Ground and came close to an opener early on when Joel Ideho and Richards combined, before the latter was denied by Chituru Odunze.

Ethan Fitzhugh tried his luck for the hosts moments later, wriggling away from his marker and taking aim from 25 yards, only for Remy Mitchell to palm away the danger.

Richards had been lively all afternoon and came close once more on the stroke of half-time, skipping past two players inside the area before being denied from close range.

But following the restart, he got the reward for his hard work and persistence. With a sweeping counter-attack, Richards flicked the ball out wide for Bradley Ibrahim to latch onto, before darting into the penalty area and latching onto an inch-perfect delivery for his first goal at this level. This was only his second appearance for Ken Gillard’s side.

We continued to push on and created a number of promising opportunities, but with a long ball over the top of our defence, Will Russ raced through on goal and forced a foul from the onrushing Remy Mitchell.

Russ stepped up and made no mistake in finding the bottom corner, leaving us to settle for a share of the spoils.