Post-Match Report

Reserves: Leicester City 1-4 Arsenal - Report

Marston Stadium, Hinckley United FC

Leicester Res -

Marston Stadium
Barclays Under-21 Premier League
Barclays Under-21 Premier League
  Leicester Res
   crest
Leicester Res
1 - 4
  Arsenal U23
   crest
Arsenal U23

By Mo Khan

Arsenal won 4-1 at Leicester on Tuesday to return to the top of
the Reserve League table - but they had to rely heavily on keeper
Mart Poom to do it.

Arturo Lupoli broke the deadlock in the 19th minute at Hinckley
United FC. But, after that, the home side took charge. They forced
an equaliser just after the half-hour and then frequent saves from
Poom before the visitors made the game safe.

That happened with 11 minutes remaining when Lupoli grabbed his
second. Injury-time strikes by Quincy and Anthony Stokes were
perhaps harsh on Leicester.

Coach Neil Banfield made five changes from the side that beaten
Ipswich 2-0 at the start of the month. In came Paul Rodgers,
Mitchell Murphy, Sean Kelly, Jay Simpson and Shane Tracy to replace
Emmanuel Eboue, Philippe Senderos, Johan Djourou, Kerrea Gilbert
and Nicklas Bendtner.

Lupoli struck early for the visitors. The former Parma starlet
raced onto a well-weighted through ball by Jay Simpson, outpaced
former England international Dion Dublin before coolly firing past
keeper Alex Cisak. It was his 15th goal in his 12th start for the
Reserves this term.

Lupoli might have scored even earlier. He rounded Cisak in the
opening seconds but was shut out by a covering defender as he
looked to roll the ball home.

To their credit, Leicester hauled themselves back into the game
with Levi Porter causing the Gunners problems with his probing
passes and neat touches.

After Poom had produced a string of saves, including a
finger-tip from Morris' header to push the effort onto the bar,
the home side eventually got the goal their play and possession
deserved.

Morris found himself one-on-one with the Estonian international
on the left of the box and he fired into the bottom right-hand
corner.

Injury forced Simpson to be replaced by Marc Elston in the 33rd
minute but Leicester continued to dominate, knocking the ball
around crisply and finding gaps in the Gunners rearguard.

The second half began in much the same way as the first had
ended with the home side controlling the game. But Arsenal were
standing firm despite Dublin glancing a header wide and Joe Magunda
hitting the bar from  40 yards.

Then Lupoli scored again. Elston hit a wonderful, first-time
pass with outside of his right-foot into the 18-year-old's path
and even though his first shot was saved by Cisak, he made no
mistake with the rebound.

The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Foxes and, in
injury time, Quincy took a shot from the edge of the box. His
effort looped up of Dublin and beyond the despairing dive of Cisak.
The score was 3-1 and yet it was difficult to fathom quite how the
hosts were trailing.

With Leicester now resigned to defeat, Arsenal continued to
press forward and, from a right-wing corner by Sebastian Larsson,
Stokes struck a sweet, left-foot volley through a crowd of players
and into bottom corner.