Town reserves saw their home campaign begin with a home defeat to Leicester. A strong Town side took on a Leicester side full of experienced Premiership players.

Town took the lead after five minutes through Stuart Niven after Neil Midgley had missed a golden opportunity. The striker intercepted a clearance from keeper Royce but the keeper got back to save his shot. The ball went wide, was crossed and then cleared before the man on a month to month contract hammered home.

Town dominated early on and Martijn Reuser went close hitting the bar with a spectacular twenty-yarder and Dutch youngster Guillermo Graaven should have done better with a point blank header that he sent wide.

Town were in the ascendent, but were not taking their chances. Town lost with a nasty looking ankle injury and Darren Bent replaced him.

The game turned on its head in the 32nd minute when Trevor Benjamin equalised. The former Cambridge man ran at Justin Miller before being dispossessed. Unfortunately the ball rebounded as it was cleared and shot through the Town back-line where Benjamin was still standing six yards from goal. He had the easy task of slotting the ball past Branagan.

A couple of minutes later Leicester went ahead when the Town defence failed to clear and Tony Cottee put the ball away.

The second half saw Leicester continue to press forward, but rarely with any venom up front. The Foxes went close through a Wayne Brown near own goal and a Tony Cottee one-on-one.

As the half continued the Blues pushed forward with several chances created. Neil Midgley hit a shot over and put a header over the ball while Darren Bent was unlucky with a snap shot.

Gary Croft capped an excellent run with a shot that went for a throw, typical of Town's evening.

The whistle went with Town still pushing, but a failure to take chances was probably to blame for the result. The best Town players on the night were John McGreal, Wayne Brown and Keith Branagan.

McGreal and Brown were solid at the back while Branagan did nothing wrong. Martijn Reuser and Nabil Abidallah were both quiet in midfield and may need longer to settle into the English style.

Town team: Branagan, Nicholls, Croft, McGreal, J Miller, Brown, Abidallah, Niven, Graaven (Bent) and Reuser.

Photo: Action Images

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