U18s: Leicester City 2-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa fell to a 2-1 defeat at Leicester City in their penultimate Under-18 Premier League South fixture of the season on Saturday.

Ajani Burchall handed the Young Lions an early lead and they remained in front until the 70th minute, but two goals in quick succession from the hosts turned the game on its head and left Villa empty handed.

The Villans remain 12^th in the table heading into their final fixture of the campaign at midlands neighbours Birmingham City on Saturday.

Villa lost out to the Foxes in the FA Youth Cup and played out a 1-1 draw with them in the reverse fixture, but things started perfectly on Saturday.

With just three minutes on the clock, a move that began with ‘keeper Josh Lane ended with Burchall cutting back onto his left foot and firing home from close range.

Chris Popov was a source of creativity for the home side and he came within a yard of levelling the scores when he bent a left-footed effort narrowly wide of the far post.

Kyrie Pierre missed the target when well placed on the edge of the box for Villa before Logan Briggs almost punished Lane for a stray pass, sending a shot over the bar.

In the second half, Lane made a couple of fine saves to keep Villa ahead before Leicester finally broke through after 70 minutes.

Amani Richards evaded a couple of claret shirts as he weaved his way into the box, picking out the far corner from a narrow angle.

The equaliser was quickly followed by what proved to be the winner on 72 minutes when Briggs broke into the box before lashing a shot beyond Lane.