Premier League 2

Stoke City U21 1 (Lowe 72')

Leeds United U21 1 (Thomas pen 61')

Stoke: Cooper (GK), Mears, Bickerton, Badley-Morgan, Griffin, Lipsiuc, Chibueze (Griffiths 79'), Smith (Gromek 68'), Adekoya, Lowe (C), Matondo (Jeffers 56'). Subs not used: Brammer (GK), Gyimah.

Leeds: Mahady (GK), Cresswell, Ferguson, Toulson (Pickles 73'), Mullen, Lopata-White (C), Vincent (Render 77'), Coleman, Thomas (Moore 90'), Chadwick, Richards. Subs not used: Ombang (GK), Monteiro.

Venue: bet365 Stadium

Referee: Yusuke Araki

Booked: Chibueze (Stoke) Lopata-White, Ferguson (Leeds)

Leeds United Under-21s were held to a point in their Premier League 2 opener by Stoke City Under-21s, with Luca Thomas' second-half penalty cancelled out by Nathan Lowe's late header.

In front of supporters at the bet365 Stadium, the hosts had the first sight of goal in the early stages, with defender Luke Badley-Morgan firing wide at the back post after meeting to a looping set-piece delivery from deep.

The Whites, wearing their yellow strip in the fading Staffordshire sun, responded when Luca Thomas found Cian Coleman in space, but the midfielder's searching pass looking for the run of Joe Richards was intercepted by the onrushing Noah Cooper in the Potters' goal.

The frantic start continued, when Stoke skipper Nathan Lowe latched onto a loose ball midway inside the Leeds half and darted down the left flank, with Jeremiah Mullen well-placed to clear his dangerous low cross.

Despite not creating any clear-cut openings, Scott Gardner's side were beginning to enjoy a strong spell of possession before Thomas then tried his luck in audacious fashion, trying to lob Cooper from distance, with the ball sailing just over the retreating keeper's crossbar.

The opening period continued to its end-to-end nature when Lowe again found space on the left for the hosts and let fly looking to catch Rory Mahady out at his near post, but saw his fizzing effort crash into the side netting.

Mahady had to be alert moments later when Japhet Matondo raced onto a bundling ball and looked to round the Scottish stopper, but the 18-year-old smothered the danger superbly as United cleared.

Fine defensive work from Mullen then prevented Dean Adekoya with the simplest of tasks to tap home a low cross, with the forward's inventive backheel cannoning off the upright as he tried to react, before Mahady got down well to deny Lowe's speculative strike from distance.

Adekoya thought he had put the hosts into the lead when he drilled into the bottom corner, only for the assistant's flag to go up for an offside earlier on in the move.

Approaching the break and Potters' full-back Josh Bickerton was next to try break the deadlock with a fierce drive, with Mahady more than equal to the effort down to his right as referee Yusuke Araki brought the opening period to a close.

HALF TIME: Stoke City U21 0-0 Leeds United U21

With both sides unchanged as play got back underway, the hosts had the game's clearest opportunity so far when Matondo found the run of Lowe in behind the Whites' line.

Charging through on goal, the Stoke captain would be denied by a superb sprawling save from the feet of Mahady, with the goalkeeper then alert to clutch the loose ball before Lowe could tap home the rebound.

Moments after stinging the palms of Cooper with a strike from distance, Coleman then had a great chance to put Gardner's side into the lead when he reacted quickest as Cooper parried Harvey Vincent's low cross to the edge of the six yard box, but saw his close-range strike cannon back off the upright and away from danger.

On the hour mark, great feet from Alfie Cresswell saw him control superbly inside the area, with Stoke's Darius Lipsiuc then sending the defender tumbling, leaving Araki with no choice other than to point to the spot.

Up stepped Thomas from 12-yards left-footed, calmly sending Cooper the wrong way to open the scoring for the Whites!

Thomas almost grabbed a second moments after the restart but Cooper was equal to his low strike this time round, after fine initial build up from Coleman found the goalscorer in space on the right.

Keen to respond quickly, Adekoya was again denied by the assistant's flag once more, heading beyond Mahady but the forward was adjudged to have strayed offside before Lowe's intelligent flick found him in space.

With just under 20 minutes left to play, the Potters would level proceedings through Lowe, heading home at the back post after Adekoya had done well to initially meet Bickerton's looping cross.

Richards, finding space on the flank, darted in-field as United looked to restore their lead and switched play with a fine pass to find substitute Jacob Render who charged into the area, before seeing his low effort blocked well by a red and white shirt.

Desperate defending from the hosts then saw Jake Griffin hack away Render's dangerous delivery with Thomas lurking inside the area, moments after Richards had seen a fierce shot charged down on the edge of the box.

In the dying moments, Badley-Morgan spurned a glorious opportunity to win it for the hosts as he met Bickerton's in-swinging corner at the back post, but the defender was unable to sort his feet out as he bundled wide.

FULL TIME: Stoke City U21 1-1 Leeds United U21