Charlton’s U21s suffered their first Premier League Cup loss of the season on Tuesday evening, falling to a 5-0 defeat to Leicester City at Princes Park.
A lively start saw chances for both teams in the early stages, but it was the away side that were able to build an early lead.
Winger Riley Carr was the creator of the first goal, bursting into the area and going to ground under the challenge of Tate Elliott. Jake Evans made no mistake from the spot, opening the scoring for the Foxes in the seventh minute.
The young Addicks almost struck back instantly when Paris Lock thundered a shot from 10 yards out against the underside of the crossbar just a minute later.
But Charlton found themselves two goals behind in the 16th minute when Reiss Khela headed home Evans’ corner from close range. It was a harsh setback for Chris Lock’s side.
Nonetheless, Charlton would have the best of the remaining first-half chances, with Lock once again going agonisingly close in the 41st minute.
Ethan Brown’s delivery from the right went all the way across the box and was put back into the danger area by Bradley Tagoe, but Kevon Gray was on hand for the visitors to clear Lock’s shot away from the line.
Despite some bright moments from the young Addicks in the second period, Leicester began to strengthen their grip on the match as the half went on.
Carr added a third for the visitors on the hour mark with a poacher’s finish. Evans cut inside from the right and fired a curling shot which Tommy Reid could not hold on to, and Carr was on hand to slide the ball under the Charlton goalkeeper.
The young Addicks continued to create chances. Lock went close again in the 69th minute when he drilled a low effort towards the near post, only to be denied by Leicester goalkeeper Jake Donohue.
In the 85th minute, Mirsad Ali worked some space on the edge of the box and sent a low effort past Reid and into the bottom-left corner.
Then, just before the clock reached 90 minutes, Chris Popov turned well in midfield and sent an excellent pass in behind for substitute William Daniels, who rounded the Charlton goalkeeper to complete the scoring.
The U21s are next in action on Monday when they travel to Ipswich Town in the Premier League Cup (KO 7pm GMT).
Charlton: T.Reid; Elliott (R.Reid 73), Laqeretabua (c), Kuczynski (Dawkins 86); Brown, Amissah, Safa (Thomas 73), Enslin, Tagoe; Rylah (Richman 62), Lock
Sub (not used): Hardy
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