Sheffield Wednesday Under-21s lost 3-1 to a strong and experienced Leicester outfit on Saturday at Middlewood Road.
The Foxes made a strong start to the game and hit the front after five minutes.
Jak McCourt fed a well-weighted through-ball to striker Joe Dodoo, who kept to his calm and slotted neatly under Arron Jameson.
But Wednesday responded well to that set back and almost levelled moments later.
A back pass from the visitors resulted in an indirect free kick inside the area as Chris Maguire saw his clever chip land just over the crossbar.
But as the half progressed, the Foxes began to assert their authority and doubled their lead on 36 minutes.
McCourt’s dangerous in-swinging corner was met by Tom Hopper, who slid the ball into the back of the net.
The game was put beyond doubt after 72 minutes when the Foxes added a third.
Harry Panayiotou showed excellent technique to volley past Jameson from Hooper’s looping cross to make the score 3-0.
The Owls, though, had a late rally in the game and pulled a goal back ten minutes from time, as Maguire and Danny Mayor linked up to reduce the arrears.
Maguire sent Mayor through on goal and the ex-Preston midfielder finished low past Leicester keeper Connor Brennan.
Development Squad Coach, Lee Bullen, said, “Looking at it before the game you could see the physical difference in height and size of the teams.
“They’ve got good experience in the side. Their Under-21s are all 20-21 year-olds, whereas ours are 18-19 years old.
“So on paper I thought ‘we’re up against it today’ and so it proved in the end with a 3-1 result.
“But the three goals we lost were sloppy in my opinion and the players concurred with that. At least the lads got a goal which gave them a lift.
“For long spells we played some good stuff. But at the end of the day, I think we were just overpowered with experience, strength and height.”
Owls: Jameson, White, Peacock, McKenzie, Fenwick, Hery, Corry, Hinchliffe (Grant 63), Mayor, Ihou (Hooper 45), Maguire