REPORT | Shrewsbury Town 1 Leicester City 2
Shrewsbury Town's players got another 90 minutes under their belts in pre-season as they put in a spirited performance against Premier League Leicester City.
The clash finished 2-1 to Steve Cooper's Foxes on a warm evening at the Croud Meadow.
It was Stephy Mavididi who gave the visitors the lead inside the opening half-hour when his deflected free-kick wrong-footed Salop's trialist keeper before creeping into the corner of the net.
The Shrewsbury head coach would have been really pleased with what his side produced in the first half as they competed well against high-quality opposition.
There were no clear-cut chances for Town, but their build-up play was really positive. It was just missing that bit of quality in the final third.
Patson Daka forced the Town keeper into a save when he was slipped in behind the hosts' defence - he made himself big and blocked the forward's effort.
Tommi O'Reilly again looked bright playing in the number 10 role for Shrews. He could have had a penalty at the end of the first half when he was taken down in the penalty area, but nothing was given.
John Marquis made his first Salop appearance coming on at the break, and the home side were level within six minutes of the re-start.
O'Reilly sprayed the ball out wide to Jordan Shipley, and his first-time cross went in off Caleb Okoli.
Town were not even level for two minutes as Kasey McAteer was played in by James Justin. Joe Young, who had been introduced as a second-half substitute came rushing out, and the Leicester forward deftly lobbed the ball over him.
Marquis could had a couple of opportunities as Town continued to give a good account of themselves.
First he saw an effort blocked after a cross from Carl Winchester, and then he could not quite turn it home after chaos from a corner.
Overall it was a good workout for Hurst's men who move on to another challenging game against Derby this weekend.
Shrewsbury: Trialist A (Young 67), Hoole (Godwin 81), Benning, Feeney, Pierre (Loughran 67), Winchester (Nsiala 67), Lloyd (Marquis 45), Perry, Bloxham (Biggins 45), Shipley (Thompson-McKenzie 88), O'Reilly (Nurse 67).
Subs: Young, Biggins, Nurse, Marquis, Godwin, Loughran, Cairns, Thompson-McKenzie.
Leicester: Leicester City: Ward, Coady (Souttar 45), Ndidi (Choudhury 45), Fatawu (Marcal 45), Winks (Soumare 45), Mavididi (Alves 62), Daka (Cannon 45), Pereira (Justin 45), Nelson (Okoli 45), Thomas (Golding 62), McAteer (Cover 62).
Subs: Justin, Okoli, Souttar, Choudhury, Soumare, Marcal, Cannon, Iverson, Golding, Alves, Thomas, Bausor, Braybrooke, Godsmark-Ford, Cover, Briggs.
