Aaron Jaffe
Notts County finished their Bristol Street Motors Trophy campaign with a 1-0 win against Leicester City U21 at Meadow Lane. Cedwyn Scott scored the only goal of the evening in front of 1,178 fans, placing his shot perfectly into the bottom corner in the 31st minute. Impact’s Aaron Jaffe and Sam Bunce were there to cover the game.
Stuart Maynard named a fully changed side, resting his key players ahead of the away trip to Crewe Alexandra at the weekend. The most notable additions to the starting lineup included forward Cedwyn Scott, who had been out of action since early October after taking a leave of absence.
In the opposite dugout, former Hartlepool United and Leyton Orient man Leon McSweeney made three changes to the XI he named against Coventry City U21 on Friday evening. Midfielder Henry Cartwright returned to the starting lineup, having had a stellar start to the season with five goal contributions in the Premier League 2 so far.
The young Foxes dominated the first 15 minutes, with summer signing Michael Golding seeing plenty of the ball. The 18-year-old joined Leicester from Chelsea in the summer in a deal valued around the £4 million mark.
Sam Slocombe was forced into a great save after his pass was capitalised on by Oli Ewing. Ewing played the ball across the face of an open goal to Jeremy Monga, but the 15-year-old’s effort was saved by Slocombe, who had got back in time to make the recovery.
The hosts had a good chance to open the scoring. The ball fizzed out to Josh Martin, who took the effort first time heading for the back of the net, but it deflected off a Leicester defender for a corner-kick.
The Magpies broke the deadlock through Scott
Despite the visitors gaining momentum with chances for Golding and Monga on both flanks, the Magpies broke the deadlock through Scott on the half-hour mark. Finding some space just outside the box, the 25-year-old drilled the ball into the bottom left corner, beating an outstretched Harry French.
Slocombe was called into action again in the second half, this time denying Jake Evans from close range with a fingertip save.
Scott’s first outing back in black and white was called in the 62nd minute, with 15-year-old Kameron Muir coming on in his place. The talented youngster broke the record set by another County graduate, Jermaine Pennant, when he made his professional debut against Burton Albion in September aged 15 years and 32 days.
The substitute almost doubled the hosts’ advantage only a few minutes after entering play. Madou Cisse put on a display with some lovely footwork, finding Muir in a central position. The forward drove towards goal before unleashing an effort narrowly wide of the bottom corner.
Slocombe repeatedly kept Notts County in the game, pushing Ewing’s promising attempt over the bar for a corner.
Jayden Joseph saw his free-kick bounce off the woodwork five minutes from the end of regular time, adding to the chances that Leicester had to level the scoring.
The hosts were able to hold on to their lead
Despite Leicester’s flurry of shots towards the end of the game including Tom Wilson-Brown volleying just over from a corner kick, the hosts were able to hold on to their lead, exiting the tournament on a positive result with full attention panning back to the league.
Stuart Maynard’s side next face a tough test, facing Crewe Alexandra at the Mornflake Stadium. Notts are unbeaten away in League Two so far, however, Crewe lie in fifth with a game in hand and will be looking to leapfrog County in third with a win.
Notts County: Slocombe ©, McDonald, Hinchy (Denham 62’), Scott (Muir 62’), Ness (Aves 62’), Martin (C.Cisse 87’), Reynolds, M.Cisse, Adiefeh, Nyirenda, Emmanuel (Cooney 88’)
Unused sub: Perott
Leicester City U21: French, Golding (King 59’), Alves, Ewing (Pennant 84’), Wormleighton (Oluko 73’), Cartwright, Godsmark-Ford ©, Wilson-Brown, Joseph, Evans, Monga
Unused subs: Bausor, Raikhy, Hill, Lindsay
Goals: Scott 31’
Attendance: 1,178
Aaron Jaffe
Featured image courtesy of Julien Rocheblave via Unsplash. Image use license found here (Unsplash). No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @NottsCountyFC via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
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