Ex-Hatter Dewsbury-Hall scores his first Leicester goal in Europa League defeat against Napoli

Midfielder makes it 2-2 out in Italy but Foxes drop into play-offs
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall celebrates his first goal for Leicester City against NapoliKiernan Dewsbury-Hall celebrates his first goal for Leicester City against Napoli
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall celebrates his first goal for Leicester City against Napoli

Former Luton loanee Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored his first goal for Leicester City during their UEFA Europa League Group C 3-2 defeat in Napoli last night.

The Foxes had trailed 2-0 after 25 minutes, Adam Ounas on target and then Eljif Elmas tapping home, before Brendan Rodgers' side quickly pulled one back, Jonny Evans on target.

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Leicester were then on level terms on 33 minutes, when Dewsbury-Hall struck, the ex-Hatter expertly volleying into the bottom corner from the edge of the box for his maiden City strike.

However, after the break, Elmas netted once more with just eight minutes gone as the Foxes failed to go through and dropped into the knockout play-offs, where they will face one of the runners-up from the group stages of the Europa Conference League.

Speaking to the Leicester official website, Dewsbury-Hall, who played 40 times for Luton on loan last season, scoring three times, said: "It’s hard to put into words at the moment because me and the rest of the team are really upset in there.

"We knew it was in our hands to go into the next round and it’s annoying that we didn’t defend as well as we can and we have to score three or four goals to get the win.

“It’s hard to do, you can’t do that week in, week out.

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"It’s so disappointing because we went 2-0 down and we got back into the game and it’s just sloppy to concede a third goal.

“Then, you know that they’ll just drop deep and soak up the pressure.

"We had a lot of the ball in the second half, but it’s hard to break them down when they’ve got a bank of five and four, so it’s really upsetting.”

On the goal itself though, Dewsbury-Hall, who made full Premier League debut at the weekend in the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa, added: "It was a good strike.

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"It’s just so bittersweet because I’d have substituted that goal to go through tonight.

"It’s good personally, but it’s more about the team and I want to go through.

“At that time in the game, we were really confident getting that second goal because then we’ve got momentum.

"On a personal level, it was a nice strike. I’m happy with it and I hope I get some more, but I’d rather we’d have gone through to the knockouts.”