U18s: Leicester City 3-3 Aston Villa

Aston Villa fought back from three goals down to draw against Leicester City in the Under-18 Premier League.

The Foxes were 2-0 up at half-time thanks to goals from Yassin Toure and Liam McAlinney, extending their advantage when Mirsad Ali netted on 51 minutes.

Villa’s fightback began just five minutes later when TJ Carroll fired home a long-range effort.

Jamaldeen Jimoh bagged his third in two games before Rory Wilson made no mistake from the penalty spot to earn a point for the visitors, completing the comeback with his tenth goal of the season on 71 minutes.

Chances came and went for both teams in the opening stages, with Charlie Pavey curling an effort narrowly wide for the visitors before Leicester took the lead on 24 minutes.

The home side worked the ball out to the left-hand side and then delivered a low cross to the centre, where Toure was waiting to fire home off the underside of the crossbar.

McAlinney made it two eight minutes later when he stretched to reach Bobby Amartey’s cross, heading the ball beyond Sam Proctor.

Wilson had a couple of chances to pull a goal back before Leicester struck for the third time, with full-back Ali slotting into the far corner after some nice combination play with Kirsten Otchere.

A response came quickly from Gerard Nash’s Villans, who were celebrating the first stage of their comeback when Carroll placed a shot into the top corner from just outside of the penalty area.

Jimoh, who scored a brace last time out against West Bromwich Albion, made it 3-2 on 65 minutes when he thrashed a shot across goal and in.

And Villa were back on level terms with 71 minutes on the clock when Wilson stepped up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way from the penalty spot after Jimoh had been felled in the box.  

The away side pushed for a winner in the closing stages and saw Ben Broggio and Nile Timson go close to sealing what would have been a remarkable win.