Both West Ham U23 and Leicester teams headed into this game at the King Power Stadium occupying the bottom places of the Premier League 2, both being desperate for points as the Christmas fixtures approach.
Despite being a man up for 80 minutes, the young Irons failed to grab their first win of the season, while Leicester’s 2-1 win is their third victory of the season.
An Uneven Playing Field
Ten minutes into the first half, the Foxes were forced down to ten men as Vontae Daley-Campbell cynically brought down Hammers forward Oladapo Afolayan.
Even with 10 men, it was Leicester who took the lead just 12 minutes later with Thakgalo Leshabela feeding Demarai Gray, who showed plenty of composure to slide it past Nathan Trott.
In the 35th minute, Algerian forward Islam Slimani had a huge chance to double the lead, however Trott sprinted from goal and cleared it from danger.
As West Ham had a very disappointing first half, they were keen to turn it around. In the 57th minute Kai Corbett had a crack as his shot curved to the top right corner however, the shot went just wide.
Back In The Game
Just minutes later, the Hammers earned a penalty after Polish keeper Jakub Stolarczyk tackled Daniel Chesters who had dribbled past him. Afolayan grabbed his fourth goal of the season and sent Stolarczyk the wrong way with the spot-kick to level the scores.
In the 70th minute, the Hammers had a huge chance to take the lead with Afolayan passing to Corbett who hit the crossbar. Three minutes later West Ham had another huge chance, this time a free kick from Emmanuel Longelo who’s shot hits the post.
However, just three minutes before the 90 was up, Gray got his second goal of the night as he picked up the ball in a dangerous area, and had the equanimity to slot it past the on-rushing goalkeeper, putting the Foxes 2-1 up with little time to play.
Senior Reinforcements
Leicester’s U23 did have two senior players in Islam Slimani and Demarai Gray to help them get the three points as Irons manager Dmitri Halajko added to that by saying, “It highlighted what Premier League quality is all about. Demarai Gray got the ball only twice in the 90 minutes in dangerous positions, and he’s punished us both times”.
Despite the Foxes having top players on their side, Halajko was disappointed in the result and added,
“That’s where we are at the moment. We’ve hit the bar, we’ve hit the post, we’ve had chances and loads of the ball, but we’ve still fallen short again. It’s frustrating for everyone involved, it’s disappointing for everyone involved, and we need to work hard to find a way to turn it around.”
The Hammers hope to turn it around on Friday in a tough fixture at home to Manchester United meanwhile the Foxes travel to North London and face Tottenham next Monday.
