A new season of match reports from Trust members kicks off with one of our new signings to the match reporting team, Colin Hall. We will also be featuring reports from both games in Scotland later this week.
City 3 Notts County 0
Martin Allen must have been satisfied with his home managerial debut for Leicester City this afternoon.
Although the 3-0 scoreline over visitors Notts County was perhaps to be expected, the number of strong individual performances was especially heartening.
For the first time in a long while, the Foxes faithful saw a team in blue that appeared inspired rather than intimidated by their surroundings.
New signing Stephen Clemence set the tone with a fierce ball-winning challenge in the opening seconds, and followed this up later with his first goal for the club. We have lacked a midfield general since the departure of Muzzy Izzet some three years ago. Clemence shows every sign of fulfilling this role.
In defence, Bruno N’Gotty gave a very assured performance, while in attack Iain Hume was a constant threat and could have had more than one first-half goal to show for his efforts.
Among the second-half substitutions, James Wesolowski and Joe Mattock were particularly impressive, while Matty Fryatt displayed the goal touch that was often absent last season when heading home Shaun Newton’s cross to make the game safe. And the enthusiasm shown by young strikers Eric Odhiambo and Ricky Sappleton suggests that competition for striking places will be extremely fierce..
Clemence celebrates the first – Picture courtesy of Raymonds/lcfc.com
There are, however, a number of weaknesses which still need to be ironed out before the season begins.
James Chambers did not look entirely comfortable at left-back, while the crosses from wide players Newton and Jonathan Hayes often left a lot to be desired.
Neither of the two goalkeepers on show this afternoon, Conrad Logan or Jimmy Nielsen, did enough to nail down the first-choice green jersey.
And set-pieces remain a problem at both ends of the field. Errors were made which teams stronger than a very limited Notts side would have punished.
But the new-look management team will have noted more plus points than minuses. Even at this stage of pre-season, the side showed a lot more power and mobility than the one that limped so lamely throughout much of last season’s league campaign.
Many among the crowd of 6065 would have eagerly awaited the appearance of new £2million buy DJ Campbell as a second-half substitute. He almost made a sensational start in the opening minutes of his debut, but skied his shot over the bar and had few chances to impress afterwards. Nevertheless, his evident speed and awareness hints of considerable potential for the season ahead.
One player unlikely to figure in Allen’s plans was fans’ competition winner Lee Smith, who entered the fray with two minutes remaining to loud applause. But at least he will be able to boast a 100% winning record.
Raffle prize winner from the Independent Supporters Association Q & A on Monday night enjoys his appearance for the last few minutes – Picture courtesy of Raymonds/lcfc.com
As the pre-season schedule continues with friendlies in Scotland, the squad can only become fitter and sharper, The Portsmouth game on August 4th will be a truer test of our current strength, and ability to mount a serious promotion challenge.
It's a little too soon to put the hype machine into overdrive. But we saw enough today to suggest that that following the Foxes may soon become fun again.
City: Logan, Stearman, Chambers, N'Gotty, McAuley, Clemence, Newton, Kishishev, De Vries, Hume, Hayes. Subs: Campbell, Nielsen, Mattock, Wesolowski, Hellings, Odhiambo, Sappleton, Fryatt.
Notts County: Pilkington, Parkinson, Butcher, Silk, Lee, Smith, Hunt, Weston, MacKenzie, McCann, Tann. Subs: Sandercombe, Austin M, Austin R, Sam, Mendes, Mayo, Dudfield, Frost. Referee: Phil Joslin, Attendance: 6,065
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation