City Edged out at Loftus Road – or – Ish Miller We Will Not Let You Go.

Queens Park Rangers 1:0 Leicester City

City matched the league’s best side for 87 minutes on Saturday, before QPR sub Ishmael Miller struck a late winner to put QPR another stride towards the Premier League…

Sven Goran Eriksson made two changes to his side for this eagerly awaited clash with the league leaders, Mee replacing the injured Van Aanholt at left back and Oakley coming into the midfield in place of Gallagher.
Roared on by 3,200 visiting fans City enjoyed a bright start, Vassell setting up Yakubu in the box before the Nigerian was shoved over by Hall, who escaped punishment from the ref.
At the other end, Mee, Bamba and Burma looked solid dealing with the considerable threat of Taarabt. 
In a tight encounter the first good save came from Ricardo on 27 minutes when he blocked a fierce shot from Helgusson with his right foot.
Rangers went close again when a rare piece of slack marking allowed Hall an overhead kick, which sailed over the bar.
At the other end Yakubu broke down the left and attempted a lob over Kenny which the R’s keeper tipped over at full stretch. From the resulting corner the ball fell for Yakubu whose half volley flew a couple of inches over the bar.
Yakubu then chested a ball into King’s path but the youngster couldn’t summon his usual accuracy.
The 0-0 scoreline at half time reflected what had been an even contest between two of the league’s best sides.
Rangers had the best of the early stages of the first half with Ricardo doing well to parry a well struck Buzsaky shot at his near post, Helgusson heading over from a Taarabt free-kick; and Routledge firing into the side-netting from a tight angle.
Sven brought Waghorn on for Vassell on the hour and although he battled well to create two good chances for himself, he couldn’t get either on target.
The first saw him in a chase on goal with Connolly, who he robbed of possession before lifting his shot just over. 
King then hit the bar with a header from a Yakubu lob and Abe fired over from 25 yards.
As City’s fine spell contiinued Waghorn’s deft touch presented him with a chance from 8 yards before two defenders dived in to smother the opportunity.
Miller than came on for Taarabt with four minutes left and gave City an instant lesson in taking your chances…
Latching on to a through ball from Routledge, Miller’s fresh legs kept him ahead of Bamba and the West Brom loanee slotted the ball past the advancing Ricardo to win the game for the home side.
It was hard to accept that City had earned nothing from a very good display, and suddenly the task of reaching the play-off places looked that much harder.
Neil Warnock described it as: “A fabulous game between two cracking sides..” and for once it was hard to argue with him.
Sven looked a little down, saying: “It’s hard to lose a football match like that, but we’ll come back, still eleven to go.”

QPR: Kenny, Hill, Orr, Hall (Connolly 31), Shittu, Routledge, Derry, Buzsaky (Ephraim 89), Taarabt (Miller 86), Faurlin, Helguson. Subs Not Used: Smith, Cerny, Vaagen Moen, Hulse.   
Leicester: Ricardo, Bamba , Naughton, Mee, Bruma, King (Gallagher 79), Oakley, Abe, Wellens, Yakubu (Dyer 86), Vassell (Waghorn 65). Subs Not Used: Vitor, Weale, Berner, Moreno.

 Referee: R East (Wiltshire). Attendance:18,068.

A Kick Up the R’s

Leicester City 0:2 Queens Park Rangers

City suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to league leaders QPR yesterday afternoon, unable to cope with the visitors’ gamemanship or find a way through to goal…

Paulo Sousa changed Tuesday’s winning side, bringing Fryatt in for Howard, and City found themselves a goal down to the leaders after just 11 minutes. Taarabt lobbed a cross over from the right and an unmarked Mackie kept up his goal a game record launching a header beyond the reach of Ikeme.  
There was little other notable action in the first half with Rangers content to sit on their lead and City unable to convert possession into penetration. Waghorn sent a free-kick over the bar, and then, having inadvertently blocked a Fryatt shot, found the ball at his feet but was unable to beat keeper Kenny from close in. 
The second half was an ill-tempered affair with some familiar Warnock spoiling tactics and City never got close to the level of Tuesday night’s performance.
Fryatt fired a shot over and King sent a side-footer straight at Kenny when well-placed.
Gallagher and Howard came on for Dyer and Oakley, with City revereting to 442, but they still failed to make any impression on a tough QPR back line. Howard almost immediately received a forearm in the face, one of many incidents missed by the ref, and had to go back off to stem the flow of blood. There were two other good shouts for a penalty – for handball and for a bearhug on Howard, but the ref was giving City nothing.
Kenny then went down for a long period of treatment after landing awkwardly, and had to have his goalkicks taken for him which gave QPR more opportunties for time-wasting.
City never really looked like scoring and Rangers doubled their lead in the 86th minute.
Mackie took possession out on the left, waltzed round a pedestrian Morrison and then beat Ikeme with ease to claim the three points and delight the large away following.
Seven minutes of stoppage time couldn’t help City, who had been mugged by a highly professional Rangers side.
They weren’t good enough at the front or the back and Paulo Sousa has to go back to the drawing board.

Leicester: Ikeme, Berner, Hobbs, Neilson, Morrison, King, Dyer (Gallagher 58), Oakley (Howard 63), Wellens, Fryatt, Waghorn. Subs Not Used: Logan, Moreno, Moussa, Abe, Miguel Vítor.
QPR: Kenny, Hill, Connolly, Gorkss, Walker, Derry, Buzsaky, Ephraim, Taarabt ( Leigertwood 78), Mackie (Smith 89), Helguson (Agyemang 73). Subs Not Used: Rowlands, Cerny, German, Parker.

Referee: G D Scott. Attendance: 22,968.

Gallagher’s Goals See Off Palace

Leicester City 2:0 Crystal Palace

A storming second half performance from substitute Paul Gallagher earned City a 2-0 win over palace at Filbert Way on Tuesday night…

Nigel Pearson made two changes to his side, with fullbacks Morrison and Berner replaced by Neilson and debutante McGivern.
The first half saw virtually nothing of note, with midfield pinball, frequent offside flags and neither keeper breaking sweat. 
N’Diaye went close with a near post header for the Eagles, but that was about it. 
But the second half, which saw Gallagher on for Dyer, was an immediate improvement. Gallagher woke the crowd up volleying a Fryatt cross goalwards, but Speroni saved.
Then Fryatt had an effort blocked and Wellens fired a shot over from a decent position.
The lively Gallagher was then tripped in the area by Carle for an obvious penalty in the 59th minute. Fryatt’s spot kick was saved by Speroni but who else but Gallagher was on hand to slot home the rebound for his first goal in a City shirt.
Waghorn was then brought on for Howard who appeared to be in some sort of raging fit as he came off the field.
Campbell also came on for Fryatt and immediately had a golden chance to seal the game but shot straight at the keeper when clear through on goal.
Instead it was Gallagher who extended City’s lead, catching Speroni off his line with a brilliant 30 yard lob to seal the three points and complete a night of personal triumph. 

Leicester: Weale, Brown, Hobbs, Neilson, McGivern, King, Dyer (Gallagher 46), Oakley, Wellens, Fryatt (Campbell 78), Howard (Waghorn 64). Subs Not Used: Logan, N’Guessan, Kermorgant, Morrison.
Palace: Speroni, Hill, McCarthy, Butterfield, Fonte, Carle (Ambrose 71), Derry, Danns, Sears, N’Diaye (Davis 78), Lee (John 71). Subs Not Used: Ertl, Scannell, Clyne, Flahavan.

Referee: R East (Wiltshire). Attendance: 22,220.