Leicester City's Director of Football Jon Rudkin has hailed the club’s U18 side after they beat Birmingham City to book a place in The FA Youth Cup Semi-Final.
The young Foxes overcame their Midlands rivals 2-1 on Wednesday night, with second-half goals from Harvey Barnes and Darnell Johnson cancelling out George O’Neil’s 36th minute opener.
Leicester's Darnell Johnson celebrates his winner against Birmingham City
And, after securing the club’s first FA Youth Cup semi-final appearance for 28 years, Rudkin has hailed Leicester’s youngsters.
"At half time they were very good, very reflective," Rudkin told Foxes Player.
"There were areas they felt they could hurt the opposition with, while also understanding what the dangers were.
"They looked very confident going out there and they always felt they could get back in the game. That is pleasing for us.
"But both teams can take great credit. I thought Birmingham were very organised, disciplined and difficult to play through.
"You can see why they beat the likes of Liverpool in previous rounds, but it was a really pleasing performances for us."
Leicester’s 88th minute winner came from a set-piece, with Johnson heading home at the back-post after Matty Miles had swung in a free-kick.
And Rudkin has revealed it was something the academy staff had been working on in preparation for the tie at the King Power Stadium.
"It was crucial to capitalise on some of the set pieces that we had and we did look a threat," added Rudkin.
"Credit to Trevor [Peake] and Matt [Goodwin], they have been working very hard on particular set pieces and they knew we’d create some chances from that.
"Overall I thought the game plan and team performance was very good and we can all be proud."
