Leeds United under-21s boss Michael Skubala felt his side matched Bolton Wanderers in the first half of their Papa Johns Trophy loss and that they could have been a couple of goals to the good as he rued missed chances.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson put the Whites ahead in the first half as he turned home a cross from the returning Lloyd Isgrove.Wanderers doubled their lead after the break when Amadou Bakayoko fired home from close range following Conor Bradley's shot being saved by Joel Robles.
Kieran Sadlier added a third before full-time to put the 3-0 victory beyond doubt. However, the visitors had chances to take the lead, especially in the first half, with Sean McGurk having the best opportunity.
Leeds under-21 boss Skubala spoke highly of Wanderers and the quality of play on show by Ian Evatt's side. But he believes his side matched them in the opening 45 minutes, as he felt poor finishing cost his team.
He said: “A huge test, a great test going against a good team and credit to their team and staff, Bolton are a good team and they play lots of decent football. There was lots of decent challenges but I thought first half we really matched them and we could have scored a couple.
“I think as a team if we’re creating chances we must be doing something right, as individuals they have to step up in the big moments and score those goals. I think we just need to keep creating chances and I think tactically we’re in the right place. If the players get more exposure to those big chances in games like this, they’ll get more comfortable and score more goals, it’s a cycle in that sense.
“It’s a top experience, an absolutely amazing experience for them and the Papa John’s is amazing. You could say in the first half we’ve matched them and we should have scored but we couldn’t keep going and there was a bit of physicality and the tempo is different from the Premier League 2, so yeah, really good.”
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