City Beaten Again

Cardiff City 2:1 Leicester City

City suffered their third consecutive defeat at Cardiff on Tuesday night, despite a battling second half performance.

Nigel Pearson made five changes to his side for this wintry midweek trip to South Wales with Brown, Powell, Kermorgant, Dyer and Oakley out and Neilson, Solano, Spearing, Gallagher and N’Guessan in.
This re-jigged line-up went a goal down after just nine minutes however. Whitingham fed th eball to Atuthu who made room for himself to fire in a shot. Weale could only parry it into the path of McCormack who fired it home.
This was not a good start for a side on a poor run and for a while Cardiff threatened to run riot.
Burke went close with a shot and then King cleared a McCormack effort on the line.
Substitue Matthews then went on a long run beating five black shirt before firing over.
Just when it looked as though City had limited Cardiff’s first half lead to a single goal, there was late drama.
McCormack had a shot saved by Weale, Rae latched on to the rebound and squared for Whittingham to make it 2-0.
Seconds later Waghorn appeared to have got the ball at least a yard over the goal line directly from a corner, but the linesman didn’t give it and Cardiff charged down the other end, Burke crossing for Etuhu who wasted a golden opportunity with a poor header.
City started the second half in determined fashion, with Howard on for N’Guessan, and it took him only seven minutes to score. Waghorn swung another good corner over, Bluebirds’ keeper Marshall flapped at it and it fell for Howard to pull a goal back with a low drive from close in.
City looked a different team in this half and piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser.
It looked as though the breakthrough had come in the 70th minute when Vaughan (just on for Waghorn) was sent clean through by Solano, but Gyepes dragged him down with a crude challenge just outside the area, sacrficing himself to save the points. Gyepes did indeed see red and Gallagher made nothing of the free-kick.
The last 20 minutes were all Leicester, but they couldn’t find a way through against a dogged Cardiff rearguard action, with one man off and another injured.
Wellens, Spearing and Vaughan all went close but the Bluebirds held out through 5 minutes time added on to make it three defeats in a row for Nigel Pearson’s side. The City boss refused to be downhearted however: “There are a lot of positives from tonight’s performance. We have worked very hard to get ourselves in this position and I am not feeling downbeat about it. I have seen enough encouraging signs from the second-half performance to suggest that we can finish the season very strongly.”

Cardiff: Marshall, Quinn, Gyepes, Kennedy (Capaldi 60), Burke, Whittingham, Rae, Blake (Matthews 35),  McPhail, McCormack, Etuhu (Feeney 65). Subs Not Used: Chopra, Enckelman, Taiwo, Wildig.
Leicester: Weale, Hobbs, Neilson (Adams 83), Morrison, King, Solano, Wellens, Spearing, Gallagher, N’Guessan (Howard 46), Waghorn (Vaughan 69). Subs Not Used: Powell, Logan, Oakley, Kermorgant.

Referee: F Graham (Essex). Attendance: 20,438.

The Weales Come Off

Derby County 1:0 Leicester City

The difference between Derby and Leicester in Saturday’s East Midlands derby was a split second lack of concentration from City goalkeeper Chris Weale, whose error settled the game in favour of the Rams…

Nigel Pearson made three changes to his side with Powell, Brown and Kermorgant in for Solano, McGivern and Gallagher. 
There was a tight opening to a game that was short on entertainment, but Derby were handed a gift-wrapped opener in the 19th minute. King intercepted a Derby move and passed a straightforward ball back to Weale.
The City keeper took his eye off the ball at the vital moment and it rolled straight past him and into the net, to the delight of the home crowd.
City almost responded straight away when Dyer’s quickly taken free-kick set up King, but Bywater saved and the linesman’s flag was up.  
City’s best chance came just before the break when a crossfield run from Wellens ended with a well struck 25 yarder being tipped round the left hand post by Bywater.
Derby had the first chance of the second half when Leacock’s cross from the right was palmed out by Weale to Savage, who could not react swiftly enough to do any damage.
Porter then fired a shot on the turn but the ball went straight into Weale’s chest.
Another driving run from Leacock set Porter up but he fired narrowly over from the edge of the penalty area.
Pearson swapped his strike partnership on the hour with Howard and Gallagher on for Waghorn and Kermorgant.
Wellens then missed a long range effort on goal with Bywater out of his ground and Oakley’s driven cross through a crowded goalmouth saw King clear the bar.
N’Guessan then came on for Oakley and raised City’s game. The Frenchman’s run down the left saw him beat his marker with ease before delivering a cross that was nodded out for a corner. From Gallagher’s flag kick the ball fell for Morrison 6 yards out but his goalward stab went straight at Bywater.
Hulse almost doubled the Rams’ lead heading over from a good position, but the home side had done enough to ease their relegation fears.
City’s play off prospects were not looking quite so comfortable after a terrible week, however.

Derby: Bywater, Leacock, McEveley, Anderson, Barker, Tonge, Savage, Green, Pearson, Porter, Davies (Hulse 64 ). Subs Not Used: Deeney, Hunt, Moxey, Cywka, Martin, Sunu.
Leicester: Weale, Brown, Powell, Hobbs, Morrison, Andy King, Dyer, Oakley ( N’Guessan 75), Wellens, Kermorgant (Gallagher 62), Waghorn ( Howard 63). Subs Not Used: Logan, Solano, Adams, Spearing.

Referee: C Webster (Tyne & Wear). Attendance: 30,259.

The Great Leicester City Mystery

Before you read the text below, may I make it clear that I have no idea what the answer is, so on your own head be it. I found this on a A4 sheet of paper that was sent in to The FOX years ago but that’s all there was…

Update: This is a genuine question and we now have the answer… which I’m not going to tell you.

Rodney Fern did it. 

So did Malcolm Manley.

And David Nish.

Jon Sammels did it twice and Brian Alderson did it twice, but Frank Worthington and Keith Weller never did it.

Alan Young did it.

Gary Lineker did it twice and Bobby Smith did it twice.

Wayne Clarke did it and so did his brother.

Ali Mauchlen did it, So did David Kelly and Tommy Wright.

Steve Walsh and Tony James both managed it.

Iwan Roberts never managed it but Marshall, Heskey and Joachim did  and Cottee did it twice.

Ade Akinbiyi never did it.

What was it?

City Pay the Penalty

Leicester City 1:2 Reading

City recovered from a poor start to play their part in an excellent contest, but robbed of a point when Reading were awarded an injury time penalty.

Nigel Pearson sent out an unchanged line-up against the division’s form team but after a decent opening spell City fell behind in the 16th minute.
McGivern was disposessed by Kebe 30 yards out and then compounded his error by not closing the Reading striker down as he approached the goal, leaving him an easy task of beating Weale from close in. 
Reading threatened to add to the scoreline but Long sent a header over and Mills had an effort blocked on the line by Morrison, the loose ball almost going off McGivern and into the net.
City eventually fought their way back into the game towards half time. Some strong running from Dyer, who had an excellent night,  created a chance for King which went narrowly wide.
In the 40th minute another great ball from Dyer found Waghorn whose beautifully directed header beat Federici in the Royals goal.
City almost went in at half time with the lead when another darting run and cross from Dyer found King close in, but Federici produced a fine save to send the ball over the bar.
The second half was great entertainment with constant end to end stuff. Kebe squared for Sigurdsson, who would have scored but for a great intervention by King and then Kebe tested Weale with a shot.
The football was then put on hold for five minutes, but the entertainment continued… on the hour Griffin’s frustration at trying to deal with Dyer surfaced and he appeared to raise a hand to the City winger’s face. They got into a grappling match which most of the other players joined in and Griffin was lucky to see only a yellow card, while Dyer scarcely deserved his. The drama wasn’t over as the ref restarted with a drop ball and Wellens injured Tabb, resulting in the Reading player being stretchered off after lengthy treatment. Howard was so incensed by Wellens’ challenge that he spent the rest of his time on the field trying to kick lumps out of the City midfielder whether he was near the ball or not. Fortunately for both players the Reading bench swiftly gave Howard the hook, in favour of the more peacefully named Church. 
The football resumed, with a bit of added edge and Weale did well to keep out a Sigurdsson shot.
Liverpool loanee Jay Spearing then made his debut replacing Oakley in the 70th minute.
More great work from the tireless Dyer then saw him chase down Betrand, rob him, and scuttle off towards goal. Half the stadium leapt out of their seats but sadly his near post shot found the sidenetting. 
Weale produced a great save from Bertrand, but then almost made a hash of a cross from Kebe, Morrison tidying up after him.
At the other end Dyer was denied the goal he deserved when Federici tipped away his shot at full stretch.
Just when it looked as though both teams would have to settle for a point, City conceded an injury time penalty.
Church raced into the box and, although it looked as though Solano had put in a ball winning challenge, the ref pointed to the spot. Sigurdsson coolly placed it to Weale’s left and the small band of Reading fans were celebrating yet another win.
It was harsh on City, who had contributed to an excellent spectacle, but Nigel Pearson was not complaining:
“I have seen it again and I have spoken to Nobby about it, and he thought he got the ball, but I am not going to complain about it. I have seen them given and I have seen them not given, but tonight it was given.”

City: Weale, Solano, Morrison, Hobbs, McGivern, Oakley (Spearing 71), Wellens, King, Dyer, Waghorn, Gallagher (N’Guessan 74). Subs Not Used: Logan, Brown, Howard, Adams, Kermorgant.
Reading: Federici, Griffin, Mills, Khizanishvili, Bertrand, Kebe, Tabb (Gunnarsson 61), Howard (Church 64), Sigurdsson, McAnuff, Long (Rasiak 75). Subs Not Used: Hamer, Robson-Kanu, Karacan, Pearce.

Referee: David Foster (Tyne & Wear). Attendance: 20,108.

Anfield Connection Brings Spearing to Leicester

Liverpool’s 21 year old midfielder Jay Spearing has moved to Leicester on loan until the end of the current season.
Spearing, who signed a three year contract with the Reds last summer, will be reunited with former Youth Team teammate Jack Hobbs who followed up his Anfield to Walkers Stadium loan deal with a permanent move.

Spearing has made three appearances for the club he has been involved with since the age of eight: one as sub in the Premier League, another as sub in the Champions League; and a starting place in the League Cup.

A Tale of Four Cities

Leicester City 2:2 Coventry City

The M69 Derby ended all square at Filbert Way on Sunday, with Leicester and Coventry both claiming one half, one point and a dodgy goal apiece.

Nigel Pearson was forced into a change just before kick-off when Berner injured himself in the pre-match warm up, McGivern stepping up from the bench.
It didn’t seem to do City any harm, with them taking a third minute lead. A killer ball from Wellens fed Dyer down the left and he beat his marker and delivered a cross. McPake miscued his clearance, sending the ball straight to King who kept his composure and found the bottom right hand corner with a measured shot.
Two minute later City almost went further ahead when Waghorn swung a free-kick goalwards but Westwood tipped it round the right hand post. 
Coventry’s first chance came in the 14th minute but Baker’s shot on the turn went stright into the grasp of Weale.
At the other end Westwood came to Coventry’s rescue again, getting down to Dyer’s low shot after the City winger had been sent through by Waghorn.
Much to the home crowd’s delight it was soon 2-0, however. 
In the 19th minute another good probing ball from Wellens found Gallagher who chipped a cross over for King to head against the underside of the bar and down over the line. Whether the whole of the ball was over was difficult to tell even from multiple slowmotion camera angles, but the linesman signalled a goal and the Walkers Stadium was celebrating again.
City were rampant now and Waghorn was two inches shy of putting the finishing touch to a Wellens cross, while a Gallagher chip was headed off the line. 
Then Waghorn outpaced the Coventry centre-halves but hurried his shot over the bar.
Although Coventry enjoyed a late spell of pressure just before the break, they didn’t create any clear chances and the half had undoubtedly belonged to Leicester.
Sadly that was not the case in the second half, which saw a complete turn around in more ways than one.
Chris Coleman, who had cut a furious figure on the sidelines, had clearly given his team an almighty bollocking – wheras City seemed unsure how best to proceed with their two goal lead, opting to try and defend it.
Eight minutes into the half the Sky Blues pulled a goal back in spectacular fashion when a loose ball 8 yards out fell nicely for McPake to acrobatically volley a shot that was too hard for Weale to fully block. 
Gunnarsson was then introduced into the game for Coventry and immediately made his mark with a ridiculous challenge on McGivern that saw lengthy treatment for the Manchester City player after a clash of heads.
City had a chance to wrap up the game when Wellens sent a low ball across the face of goal but there were no takers.    
Instead, City found themselves conceding more and more ground to the visitors who had seized midfield dominance.
Kermorgant came on for Gallagher, but Coventry upped the pressure. Morrsion saw a shot from close in blocked by Weale’s legs and Wood’s follow up was blocked on the line by Solano.
Shortly after this Solano was replaced by Brown in an attempt to strenghten the defence, but Coventry found a way through in the 86th minute. 
A shot was blocked but the ball fell in the path of Morrison who squared for Deegan to net from close in. At the time of the original shot it appeared that Sears was clearly in an offside position, but there was no linesman’s flag.
City almost found a late winner when Oakley went clear on goal, but he couldn’t beat Westwood at his near post.
The Coventy keeper also did well to block Dyer in the last action of the game and both sides had to be content with a point.
City moved up to fourth, and other results went well, so nothing was dented by that squandering of a 2-0 lead, except local pride.
Leicester: Weale, Hobbs, Morrison, McGivern, King, Dyer, Solano (Brown 83), Oakley, Wellens, Gallagher (Kermorgant 77), Waghorn (Howard 88). Subs Not Used: Logan, N’Guessan, Adams, Neilson.
Coventry: Westwood, Cranie, McPake, Wood, Wright, Bell (Gunnarsson 57), Clingan, Baker (Sears 76), Deegan, Stead (Eastwood 66), Morrison. Subs Not Used: Barnett, Hall, Konstantopoulos, Hussey.

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire). Attendance: 23,093.

Ajax Watch City Keeper

A 1979 scoop from Bill Anderson that came to nought. “I think I would go.” says Mark, bless him! 

Palace Win Sees City in Fourth Place

Crystal Palace 0:1 Leicester City

City reinforced their credentials as serious play-off contenders last night with a good win at Palace that became more nervy than it should have been before the final whistle brought welcome relief and the news that we are up to fourth.

City kept Solano at right back and Morrison and Hobbs resumed their central defensive partnership. There were no other changes. It was City who imposed themselves on this game from the off and dominated possession, creating danger whenever they came forward.
Dyer was particularly lively again and after good work down the left he set Berner up who crossed low to Gallagher at the far post who somehow missed from close in.
This early chance was followed by further pressure and goal attempts with Oakley’s volley bringing out the best from Speroni before Weale was called in to action to keep out a well struck effort by Andrew.
As half time approached and City kept up the pressure with some fluent football, Davis received a red card in an incident that managed to inflame everyone. A cross in to the Palace area had eluded Waghorn but as everyone’s eyes followed the ball, Davis planted an elbow in to Morrison’s head. This was seen by the linesman who alerted the referee and the red card duly followed. The drama then continued as City pleaded for a penalty. The ball was in play when the incident occurred and the ‘assault’ took place in the area so surely a penalty should be given?
Not so according to referee Tanner who was pursued by angry City players for a while.
Half time came just in time for everyone to calm down and it was City who continued to dominate possession as the second half got underway and Berner was put through for a shot that just cleared the bar. However, it was only a few minutes to wait before the inevitable breakthrough came. Following another good move, Waghorn had a ferocious shot saved by Speroni but the ball fell in to the path of Berner who slammed the rebound in to the net before being mobbed by his delighted team mates.

The goal was also the cue for confusion and mayhem in the away end where over a 1,000 City fans had made the journey south. No sooner had the ball hit the net than a flare was set off at the back of the stand. This prompted a swarm of stewards to descend on the area and a comedy moment ensued as they decided what to do with this flare and when one of south London’s finest decided to stamp on it, the surrounding fans were showered in sparks.
As calm returned City were looking to consolidate their lead and Gallagher nearly succeeded but Speroni was once again equal to his shot.
With half an hour remaining, Nigel Pearson took off Waghorn and replaced him with Howard and then Dyer who was replaced with N’Guessan. Waghorn was particularly displeased with this move and he threw his shirt down as he reached the dug out before storming off to the dressing rooms. The net effect of these substitutions was to blunt City’s attack and invite Palace back in to a match that should have been over for them.
This made for a nervous final twenty minutes as City were unable to keep the ball and were forced to do some desperate defending. Weale made one brilliant save from a Hill header as the minutes ticked away to cap off a confident, solid performance.
Full time brought relief for City in a match that they dominated for long periods but in the end could easily have conceded an equaliser.
The full time results made for happy reading with Swansea’s defeat pushing City up to 4th, and Forest and Coventry losing. With just ten matches remaining City are now 8 points clear of 7th place…
Palace: Speroni, Hill, Butterfield, Davis, Clyne (Lawrence 46), Ambrose (Scannell 79), Derry, Danns, Ertl, Andrew, Lee (Hills 46). Subs Not Used: Carle, John, Djilali, N’Diaye.
Leicester: Weale, Berner, Solano, Hobbs, Morrison, King, Oakley, Wellens, Dyer (N’Guessan 80), Gallagher (Adams 86), Waghorn (Howard 64). Subs Not Used: Logan, Kermorgant, Neilson, McGivern.

Referee: Steve Tanner (Somerset). Attendance: 12,721.

The Shirt of Hurt – Beyond the Call of Duty

Club Chaplain Richard Gamble is raising money for Sport Relief, at no little personal cost.
He has joined the Shirt of Hurt movement instigated by Danny Baker on his Radio Five Live Saturday morning show, whereby the victim has to wear the shirt of his most hated rivals…

Rich has suffered more than most shirt swappers, having to wear Coventry City’s ridiculous brown effort from the late seventies.
Please visit Richard’s donation site and give generously, before he dies of shame…

http://www.mysportrelief.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=324099

Other ‘Shirt of Hurt’ victims can be laughed at here…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/shows/the-danny-baker-show/galleries/5696/

Dragons Slain as City Strengthen Their Position

Leicester City 1:0 Cardiff City

Financially troubled Cardiff suffered their first defeat at the Walkers Stadium as City battled to a 1-0 win thanks to a first half goal from Martyn Waghorn…

Nigel Pearson made one change to the side that lost at Sheffield Wednesday last week with debutant Bruce replacing the injured Brown in the centre of defence.
City had to weather some early pressure as Cardiff looked eager to end a poor run and Hobbs blocked an effort from McCormack and then Whittingham sent a shot narrowly wide.
City gradually got a grip on the game and Hobbs was denied by an acrobatic clearance as they enjoyed a spell of pressure.
This resulted in a 29th minute opener for City when Waghorn, quick to react to a nod on from King, beat defender and goalkeeper prodding the ball home from the left hand side of the six yard area. 
It was a big moment in a tight game and City continued to press forward. Dyer, especially, was having a productive afternoon beating the full back, and delivering some decent crosses.   
Bruce then limped out of the action to be replaced by Solano and the defence had to reshuffle. Solano soon proved his defensive credentials, nipping the ball off Whittingham’s toe when he looked certain to convert a low cross from the right.
City looked comfortable for much of the second half without managing to add to the scoreline and there were few incidents for twenty minutes, although Hobbs blocked another McCormack effort. Then Everton-loanee James Vaughan was introduced into the action for Oakley and gave City fresh impetus with a  lively display.
Gallagher sent a trademark long range effort whistling inches wide of the right hand post and Waghorn was a constant thorn in the side, before being replaced by Howard.
Cardiff applied a little pressure on Weale’s goal as time began to run out, but Weale saved one McCormack effort comfortably and shots from Boothroyd and McCormack both cleared the bar.   
Vaughan had one opportunity late on but appeared to be manhandled off the ball and the ref wasn’t interested in loud claims for a penalty from the Kop.
City held on to their lead for an extremely valuable three points which now sees them seven points clear of seventh place with eleven games remaining.
Nigel Pearson refused to get carried away on the general wave of optimism: “Things can change very quickly if you let your eye off the ball. There are still 10 or 12 teams with a chance of reaching the play-offs. It’s going to be very tight until the end of the season.”

Leicester: Weale, Berner, Bruce (Solano 35), Hobbs, Morrison, King, Dyer, Oakley (Vaughan 63), Wellens, Gallagher, Waghorn (Howard 77). Subs Not Used: Logan, N’Guessan, Adams, McGivern.
Cardiff: Marshall, Gerrard, McNaughton, Kennedy, Burke, Whittingham, Blake, Matthews (Rae 71), McPhail, McCormack, Bothroyd. Subs Not Used: Quinn, Enckelman, Taiwo, Wildig, Capaldi, Feeney.

Referee: K G Evans (Manchester). Attendance: 22,767.