Leicester Release Half a Dozen

Leicester City today announced that six players were to be released: Darius Vassell,  Steve Howard, Matt Oakley, Chris Weale, Aleksandar Tunchev and  Elliott Chamberlain.

There were no real surprises in this list of the long-term injured and out of favour and, with the recent influx of young players arriving, the squad’s average age has just dropped significantly.
Howard and Oakley will be best remembered for their contribution to the League One title-winning season, whereas Vassell and Tunchev’s City careers were truncated by injury; while Weale’s loss of form was almost dramatic.

We wish them all well in whatever they take on next…

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City See Off Rams in Style

Leicester City 2:0 Derby County

City delighted a big crowd with a stylish performance earning a 2-0 win against neighbours Derby at Filbert Way on Saturday…

Sven Goran Eriksson made one change to his side with Howard starting instead of Waghorn. It would have been two changes but Vitor injured himself in the warm-up and Hobbs retained his place.
The afternoon didn’t get off to a great start, with the Remembrance Day minutes silence wrecked by people too stupid to see the irony of screaming at someone to be quiet.  
City started brightly against the in-form Rams and had the ball in the net after six minutes but Vassell’s celebration were cut short by the linesman’s flag.
Davies and King both went close as City piled on the early pressure, before taking the lead in the 13th minute.  
Wellens, who had perhaps his best game in a City shirt to date, sent King through with a defence splitting pass and the youngster produced a cool finish to beat Fielding.
City continued to dominate, King almost put a finishing touch to a Cunningham cross and Gallagher sent a long range effort whistling over the bar.
In a rare Derby attack Commons sent a long range effort a yard wide of the right hand post, and Hobbs managed to clear a dangerous Cywka cross. Moore then sent a shot over when well placed on the left, but City took their 1-0 lead in with them at the break.
City continued in the same vein in the second half with Vassell and the overlapping Naughton proving to be a handful, but no one could get a head to their crosses.
Green went close with a header for the Rams and then Dyer, on for Vassell in th e64th minute, beat two defenders in the area before sending his low shot too close to Fielding.
With twenty minutes remaining City had the chance to ease the nerves when Naughton burst into the area and was clumsily tripped by Commons.  Howard made no mistake from the spot for the second time in four days, blasting a nerveless effort to Fielding’s right.
That was game over, with Derby heads going down and the only question mark was whether City could add a third to underline their superiority. Gallagher went close a couple of times but the home crowd were more than happy with a convincing 2-0 victory against fourth placed Derby.   
Sven was delighted: “We deserved the win. We started very well, then in the last 15 minutes of the first half Derby came back well and created a lot of problems. We talked at half-time, came back and created many chances. I’m pleased because we beat a very good football team and we had to be 100% to beat them. I thought the players were fantastic today.”

Leicester: Weale, Davies, Hobbs, Naughton, King, Abe, Wellens, Cunningham, Gallagher, Vassell (Dyer 64), Howard (Waghorn 89). Subs Not Used: Berner, Logan, Fryatt, Moussa, Morrison.
Derby: Fielding, Leacock, Moxey, Brayford, Barker (Anderson 78), Cywka (Doyle 85), Bailey, Green, Pearson (Kuqi 69), Moore, Commons. Subs Not Used: Deeney, Savage, Bywater, Pringle.

Referee: Steve Tanner (Somerset). Attendance: 25,930.

City Scrape a Point Against Blades

Leicester City 2:2 Sheffield United

After a strong opening twenty minutes City somehow ended up relying on a 92nd minute Howard penalty to rescue a point against Sheffield United at Filbert Way on Wednesday night…

City, with one change to the side – Hobbs in for the injured Vitor – could hardly have got off to a brighter start against a struggling Sheffield United side. The lively Waghorn almost gave City a 2nd minute lead with a fierce near post shot that Simonsen just managed to block. 
City then took an 8th minute lead, when Waghorn was fouled on th eedg eof th earea by Bartley. Gallagher stepped up to deliver a perfect curling free-kick into the top left hand corner, giving Simonsen no chance.
King then had two half chances to extend City’s lead, with a Naughton through ball having a little too much weight on it, and a header glanced wide.
As it was, the Blades somehow managed to shake themselves out of an abject performance to take an unlikely lead in at the break. 
In the 29th minute City’s back line were caught out on the break and Reid squared for an unmarked Yeates, the former City man equalising with a simple finish.
This seems to knock City’s confidence and they looked shaky as United took the lead four minutes before the break.  
Yeates struck again from a free-kick, with a similar effort to Gallagher’s, and as the small band of visitors celebrated there was a rising sense of frustration among the home crowd.
The second half continued in much the same vein with City, being bullied all over the park and unable to get a grip on proceedings. Ten minutes into the half, with no sign of improvement Eriksson brought Dyer and Howard on for Waghorn and Vassell.  
Although Dyer was sporadically effective, United were still in charge and cynical fouls and time-wasting kept them on top. At one stage Reid was substituted and managed to do a jog that was slower than a walk.
Gallagher almost found the bottom right hand corner from a free-kick but Simonsen produced a fine save.
King went close and Howard couldn’t convert a cross that fell for him six yards out.
As the game entered four minutes of time-added-on it looked as though United would claim the three points but Yeates, their two-goal hero, provided a twist in the tale handling the ball in the penalty area.
Howard stepped forward to convert a confident spot-kick and rescue a point from a poor performance that had promised much.
Sven Goran Eriksson observed: “I think we were a little lucky but we showed a lot of character to chase the equaliser at the end. It was a strange game because we played good football and scored a good goal in the first 20 minutes. Everything looked like a nice evening, almost easy, but it is never easy in this division.”

Leicester: Weale, Davies, Hobbs, Naughton, King, Abe (Fryatt 74), Wellens, Cunningham, Gallagher, Vassell (Dyer 55), Waghorn (Howard 55). Subs Not Used: Berner, Logan, Moussa, Morrison.
United: Simonsen, Jordan, Nosworthy, Bartley, Lowton, Yeates, Britton, Quinn, Montgomery, Reid (Ertl 79), Cresswell (Bogdanovic 86). Subs Not Used: Wright, Kozluk, Calve, Taylor, Evans.

Referee: P Gibbs (West Midlands). Attendance: 20,445.


King Turns the Tide at Elland Road

Leeds United 1:2 Leicester City

It was a game of two halves at Elland Road on Tuesday night as City fought back from a goal deficit to hurdle Leeds and make it into the League Cup 3rd round draw…

Paulo Sousa made five changes to the side that lost at Burnley on Saturday, bringing in Logan, Lamey, Moussa, Morrison and Gallagher, while former-fox Max Gradel made the Leeds starting line-up.
Gradel proved to be a thorn in the side, delivering a good cross for Becchio in the first chance of the game.
Another recent City-player Alex Bruce then nodded wide from a Kilkenny corner when he should have put Leeds ahead. The home fans didn’t have long ot wait howver. After 32 minutes a determined looking Gradel delivered a fine cross and Somma, unhindered by markers, glanced his header home.
Johnson then went close to extending the lead, but Logan saved. Just before the break City could have snatched an equaliser with a rare chance but Howard headed wide from an excellent Berner cross.

Paulo Sousa shuffled his pack for the second half, bringing King on for Moreno and reverting to a 442 – and it worked. King repaid his manager as soon as the action resumed. Gradel went on a dangerous run into the penalty area, but his shot was blocked by Logan. The rebound fell to Becchio but his shot was cleared off the line by King.
Inspired by the young Welsh international City gradually fought their way back into the game and levelled in the 66th minute. King and Moussa combined well to set up Wellens who beat Higgs from the edge of the area.
The Leeds keeper then did well to deny Howard who almost converted a low Gallagher cross from close in.
Hobbs and Somma both wasted late chances and it looked as though the game was drifting towards extra time when City enjoyed a slice of luck. Collins needlessly handled what was at best a hopeful ball forward, Howard stepped up to the ochie and sent Higgs the wrong way and City into the third round.

It was a great result for a spirited City side and for manager Paulo Sousa who was already experiencing a little pressure…  “We started off very well in the first half with a lot of personality but a small mistake led to the goal and after that we became a little bit disturbed. We were in trouble until the end of the half but we made changes, both tactically and mentally, at half-time and we were able to win the game. This is something we have deserved since the start of the season.”
Leeds: Higgs, Connolly, Collins, Bruce, Bessone, Kilkenny, Johnson, Howson (Hughes 72), Gradel, Becchio (Watt 72), Somma. Subs Not Used: Naylor, Schmeichel, White, Bromby, Grella.
Leicester: Logan, Berner, Hobbs, Lamey (Neilson 89), Morrison, Moreno (King 46), Moussa (Kennedy 68), Wellens, Gallagher, N’Guessan, Howard. Subs Not Used: Oakley, Crncic, Parkes, Ambrusics.

Referee: E Ilderton (Tyne & Wear). Attendance: 16,509.

City Beat Posh Neighbours

Peterborough United 1:2 Leicester City

City ended the day with a four point lead over seventh place Blackpool after winning a scrappy encounter at Peterborough with goals from Steve Howard and Andy King…

Nigel Pearson named an unchanged side for the short trip to already relegated Peterborough.
Quite early on it became clear that we weren’t going to see an exciting game of free-flowing football, on a terribly bumpy pitch. The ball spent much of its time in the air either hoofed forward out of defence or in protracted games of midfield head tennis.
Chances were rare and the first one fell to Posh, but Green didn’t connect well with a shot and Weale saved comfortably.
At the other end a chance opened up for Gallagher but he fired his effort over the bar.
Torres then capped a fine run with a poor final ball and Berner cleared a Morgan header off the line.
It looked as though the sides would go in goaless at the break when City made a 40th minute breakthrough.
Wellens fed Howard down the right and the big striker sent a low shot beyond the reach of Posh keeper Lewis and into the bottom left hand corner.  

Howard then had another chance just before the break but sent his shot over.
Peterborough pressed forward after the break with City sitting back. Mackail-Smith almost went clear but for a tackle from Brown and Hobbs had a busy spell heading several high balls clear. United’s pressure paid off with an equaliser in the 64th minute.  Unable to get through the City defence Rowe simply ran round it, latching on to Wright’s through ball and placing the ball past Weale from a couple of yards out.
City soon made amends for this slack bit of work however. Three minutes later Gallagher sent over a hanging cross from the left, Morrison nodded it back across goal from the far post and a completley unmarked King had the simple task of heading over the line from two yards out.
Weale saved bravely at the feet of the impressive Mackail-Smith as Posh sought a second equaliser but City were not ot be denied the points.
With Blackpool losing at Newcastle City’s position now looked much stronger than it had at 3 o clock.
Nigel Pearson summed up: “It was a pretty ugly game, but all that matters at this stage of the season is picking up results. We managed to do that and people can make their own minds up about whether we deserved it.”

Peterborough: Lewis, Morgan, Griffiths, Bennett, Geohaghan, Torres (Wright 57), Lee, Rowe, Green, Simpson, Mackail-Smith. Subs Not Used: McKeown, Crook, Appiah, Mills, McCrae.
Leicester: Weale, Brown, Berner, Hobbs, Morrison, Andy King, Wellens, Spearing (Oakley 86), Gallagher (Adams 86), Howard, Waghorn (Vaughan 62). Subs Not Used: Logan, Bruce, N’Guessan, Kermorgant.

Referee: G D Scott (Oxford). Attendance: 9,651.

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.

City Scrape a Point in the Slush

Leicester City 1:1 Ipswich Town

City and Ipswich struggled to provide shivering fans or armchair viewers with a spectacle at the Walkers Stadium on Sunday…

Nigel Pearson made one change to his side with Brown in for Hobbs, but after all th eeffort involved in making sure this game could go ahead City found themselves a goal down after 20 seconds. Colback’s low cross from the left was turned in by McGivern, as he attempted to prevent Norris from scoring.
In difficult conditions neither side could take a grip of the game and there were dozens of errors, providing a poor spectacle for those who had left their firesides and braved the arctic weather.
Wellens and Neilson went close with efforts, but Roy Keane’s side went closer. A Macauley header was athletically tipped over the bar by Weale and then a driven cross flew across City’s goalmouth with no Ipswich player able to provide a finishing touch.
The visitors inablity to add a second goal came back to haunt them a minute later as City produced an equaliser.
Good work from Dyer on the right saw Howard emerge from a 50-50 challenge with the ball on the edge of the area, before firing a low shot past Lee-Barrett.  
It was a goal that City deserved for their persistence on a day when little was going right.
Just before half time Fryatt broke clear on goal but his angled shot struck the keeper.
Lee-Barrett denied Fryatt again early in the second half. An Oakley corner had been overhead-kicked by brown into the six yard box but the Ipswich keeper blocked Fryatt’s shot from point blank range.
Although City were doing most of the attacking in the second half Ipswich should have scored on the break but Walters sent a header wide with the goal at his mercy. Leadbitter almost caught Weale out, hitting the bar directly from a corner kick.
Gallagher and Waghorn came on for Wellens and Dyer with 20 minutes remaining. They lifted City for a short spell but then the game died a natural death amid the snow flurries.

Nigel Pearson conceded: “We didn’t achieve the standards we have set ourselves this season, but we still got something out of the game.We were just not at our game for whatever reason. We struggled to get any fluency in our play and we didn’t look as solid as we have done.”

Well done for getting the game on, but a point each and one to forget…

Leicester: Weale, Brown, Neilson, Morrison, McGivern, King, Dyer (Waghorn 71), Oakley, Wellens (Gallagher 70), Fryatt, Howard (Kermorgant 83). Subs Not Used: Logan, Hobbs, N’Guessan, Adams.
Ipswich: Lee-Barrett, McAuley, Bruce (Rosenior 57), Balkestein, Delaney, Leadbitter, Peters, Norris, Colback (John 83), Walters, Wickham (Garvan 73). Subs Not Used: Murphy, D Wright, Quinn, Edwards.

 Referee: M Haywood (West Yorkshire). Attendance:  20,758.

City Back on Track

Leicester City 3:0 Sheffield Wednesday

City ended a bad week on a high note with a convincing 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Filbert Way on Saturday…

Nigel Pearson made four changes: Fryatt, Howard, Dyer and Berner coming in for Gallagher, Waghorn, McGivern and N’Guessan.
But for Wellens and Weale this was the side who won the third division title last season, and Howard soon invoked memories of 2008-09 powering home a header from a Fryatt chip in the 8th minute for his first goal of the season.
This was a huge confidence booster for City, and dented the fragile spirits of a Wednesday side on a run of eight games without a win.
Tudgay went close with an overhead kick in a rare Owls attack; then Wednesday keeper Grant produced a fine save to deny Fryatt, but the home crowd didn’t have to wait long to celebrate another goal.
Some smart footwork on the edge of the area from Fryatt led to a chance for King who beat Grant with a precise shot to double City’s lead in the 24th minute.  
Oakley then caught a volley perfectly but Grant managed to parry the fierce shot away.
In the 36th minute under-fire Owls boss Brian Laws made a double substitution. There were boos from the vistors’ corner as he withrew, Johnson, one of the few Wednesday players to have threatened City’s back line. 
After the break Fryatt and Oakley both went close, before Wednesday almost pulled a goal back. Weale came rushing out to the edge of his area but was left stranded as McAllister beat him to the ball; fortunately for the City keeper, Morrison had come charging back to clear McAllister’s shot off the line.
That was Wednesday’s best chance, and City made it 3-0 in the 73rd minute to put the result beyond doubt.
A good cross from substitute MicGivern from the left was turned back by Fryatt into the path of King who firmly side-footed the ball into the top right hand corner. 
Although the oppostion looked pretty poor, it was a good end to a terrible week for City, who regained a place in the play-off frame.
It also begged the question, are last year’s side still the best option?

Leicester: Weale, Brown, Berner (McGivern 60), Hobbs, Morrison, King, Dyer (Gallagher 75), Oakley, Wellens, Fryatt, Howard (Kermorgant 81). Subs Not Used: Logan, N’Guessan, Adams, Neilson.
Wednesday: Grant, Purse, Buxton, Spurr, Beevers, Johnson (Soares 36), Potter (Gray 36), McAllister, O’Connor, Tudgay, Clarke (Varney 62). Subs Not Used: Hinds, Esajas, O’Donnell, Feeney.

 Referee: C Boyeson (East Yorkshire).  Attendance: 22,236.

Top Ten Moments at the Walkers…

We know we are guilty of mourning Filbert Street’s passing on here, so let’s have Ten Great Moments since the move from Filbert Street to Filbert Way…

1.  10/8/02 - Opening Day – the first 30,000 plus crowd in many years, the excitement of being in our new home, and a great 2-0 win over Watford thanks to two goals from Brian Deane.

2. 14/12/02 – Despite Stevie Claridge’s first minute goal, City thrash Dennis Wise’s Millwall 4-1. 31,904 City fans fill the ground, but away fans are banned.

3.  27/4/03 - Micky Adams and his side celebrate promotion to the Premiership after a 1-1 draw against Norwich City.

4. 15/9/03 - City stuff Leeds 4-0 and Lilian Nalis scores a magnificent opener, all in front of the Sky cameras.

5. 8/11/04 - Craig Levein’s first home game in charge brings a 3-0 win over neighbours Coventry with goals from Nalis, Tiatto and Heath.

6. 26/11/2005 - An otherwise drab season is lit up by a fine 4-2 win over Sheffield United, Hume (2), Smith and Hammond finding the net.

7. 4/3/06 - City win a thriller against Hull 3-2, with Joey Gudjonsson scoring from the half way line.

 

8. 25/8/07 - It all clicks together for Martin Allen’s side as they beat Watford 4-1, with goals from Hume, Campbell, Sheehan and De Vries. 

9. 13/4/09 - Steve Howard’s late header against Leeds brings a 1-0 win and huge step towards the League One title.

10. 24/4/09 - Nigel Pearson’s side are presented with the League One trophy after a 2-2 draw with Scunthorpe, bouncing back from Division Three at the first attempt…