U21 report | Leicester 1-3 Wolves

Leicester 1 (Pennant 69) Wolves 3 (Hesketh 19, Hubner 47, Chiwome 53)

Wolves under-21s scored three on the road to defeat Leicester City in Premier League 2 on Monday evening.

Goals from Owen Hesketh, Justin Hubner and Leon Chiwome put James Collins’ side into a commanding three-goal lead within 53 minutes at Seagrave.

The Foxes had an opportunity to reduce the deficit, but Amani Richards saw his penalty kick denied by the crossbar, before substitute Kian Pennant struck with just over 20 minutes remaining, but the youngsters in Old Gold held on for all three points.

The home side threatened on a couple of occasions early on, however Joe Young was comfortably behind the second effort before Wolves went up the other end themselves.

Nathan Fraser had runners to his left and right but the striker, working his way back from injury, felt there was an opening to go himself and looked to curl into the far corner, but Brad Young was on hand to save.

The visitors took the lead on 19 minutes when some superb play down the left-hand side saw Owen Farmer keep hold of the ball well before playing in Matty Whittingham who had made a run into the box. The midfielder took a touch before crossing into the danger zone where Hesketh got on the end of it and found the back of the net via a deflection.

The home side looked to draw level and they came close when a low ball across goal only needed a touch, but the sliding Chris Popov couldn’t quite make contact in the middle.

Half-time | Leicester 0-1 Wolves

It was a lightning start to the second period when, just two minutes into it, Wolves doubled their advantage. Hesketh’s corner was flicked on in the centre and the ball fell to the feet of Hubner who took one touch before smashing into the top left corner with his second.

And it was three just minutes later when substitute Chiwome got in on the act. Josh Esen’s deep cross was kept alive at the back post by Aaron Keto-Diyawa who did extremely well to put the ball into a dangerous area where Chiwome was waiting to pounce as he buried from close range.

Two in quick succession pic.twitter.com/z7ndjbqNii

— Wolves Academy (@WolvesAcademy) December 4, 2023

Leicester were given a lifeline on the hour mark when Will Alves was fouled inside the area by Esen and the referee pointed to the spot. However, Richards stepped up and rifled his spotkick down the middle and off the crossbar.

The Foxes did manage to get their goal when two substitutes combined as Logan Briggs made his way forward with the ball before feeding Pennant who shot across Young and into the far corner.

The Old Gold had five minutes of added time to navigate through and they had goalkeeper Young to thank for maintaining their two-goal lead. Briggs and Arjan Raikhy combined before the latter jinked into the box and found the legs of Young there to deny him as Wolves secured victory on the road.

Full-time | Leicester 1-3 Wolves

COMING UP

Wolves under-21s are in Premier League Cup action on Monday evening as they welcome Norwich City to Aggborough.

NEXT FIVE

• 11/12 Norwich City (H) PL Cup
• 18/12 Blackburn Rovers (H)
• 12/01 Norwich City (A)
• 17/01 Hertha Berlin (H) PLIC
• 22/01 AFC Bournemouth (A) PL Cup

TEAMS

Leicester | Young, Cover, Godsmark-Ford, Wormleighton (Cartwright 58), Nelson, Wilson-Brown (Ali 82), Richards, Raikhy, Popov (Pennant 58), Alves, Maswanhise (Briggs 58).

Subs not used | Doherty.

Wolves | Young, Kaleta, Keto-Diyawa, Jordao, Kandola, Hubner, Gonzalez (Esen 46), Whittingham (Ojinnaka 81), Fraser (Chiwome 46), Hesketh, Farmer (Lopes 74).

Subs not used | Mabete.