City 4 Forest 0
Report by Stuart Dawkins
I don't believe that fans of either team were expecting much of this game. The draw at the City Ground had shown two teams with a lack of confidence, and both had lost badly at the weekend.
Leicester lined up with just two changes from the shambolic performance against Barnsley: St Ledger replacing Tunchev and Beckford replacing an injured King. City started brightly, with a powerful Danns shot headed wide after less than a minute, and just five minutes later they took the lead. Most people in the ground – including the tannoy announcer – thought that Beckford had diverted Dyer's left wing cross into the goal, but TV showed that it was a Boateng own goal. Beckford was, apparently, the leading scorer in last season's FA Cup – and his time was to come in this game too.
Two minutes later, it was almost 2-0, with Forest failing to clear a corner properly for the third time in the match. Somehow, two close range chances were blocked on the line and the ball was eventually cleared.
Forest's first attack of any consequence should have resulted in an undeserved equaliser in the 11th minute. City were again exposed down the right hand side – as they were against Barnsley on Saturday. To be fair, this time Gallagher did chase back to cover and was unlucky with a rebound, but Schmeichel badly fumbled the resulting cross straight to Findley who somehow managed to skew the ball over the bar from approximately one yard. To the naked eye, it looked like the miss of the season.
For the rest of the game, City dominated. I stopped taking notes on the number of shots City took. Nugent seemed to relish the freedom to roam given to him by having a striking partner with pace; indeed, Nugent and Beckford actually began to look like they might make a decent attacking partnership. Danns was tackling ferociously in midfield – unrecognisable from many recent insipid performances. Dyer had as much space as he wanted on the left.
Ironically, though, City's second goal came as a result of a Forest corner. City cleared the ball and broke with real pace, Peltier finishing the move with a decent shot from the right which keeper Camp parried for Beckford to head home via the crossbar.
Forest managed one decent headed chance before half time, which Schmeichel pushed over the bar, but otherwise City were looking very comfortable.
Forest made two substitutions at half time, but it made no difference to the pattern of play. Within five minutes, Beckford had scored again – racing on to Nugent's flicked header to chip the ball over Camp and into the net from a fairly tight angle.
Seven minutes later, Beckford had a deserved hat-trick. Wellens played a good ball between the Forest centre backs, Beckford's shot was well parried by Camp, but Beckford managed to turn in the air and scoop the ball into the net: 4-0!
City kept complete control of the game. There were long passages of play which left the Forest players running around without getting close to the ball. There were – to my eyes at least – two good shouts for City penalties (Beckford being clearly tripped off the ball, and the ball striking a defender's arm). Forest resorted to shooting from distance, with none of the efforts coming close to requiring a save from Schmeichel.
Beckford was replaced by Howard after 80 minutes and left the pitch to a man-of-the-match standing ovation. Kennedy also replaced Dyer, who had had a quieter second half.
And so the match progressed towards full time. There were attempted Mexican waves, a man in the stand wearing only underpants, Gallagher attempting to score with a chip from 45 yards, and more easy control of the midfield from City. It was a very satisfactory performance and, frankly, 4-0 flattered Forest.
Why were City so much better today than on Saturday? Well, they kept a better shape – it was, for example, noticeable that Dyer and Gallagher stuck to their wings almost all of the time, rather than swapping sides often as they usually do.
St Ledger played very well, completely mastering a very poor Marlon Harewood – who managed to be caught offside many more times than he managed to do anything constructive with the football. Nugent and Beckford ran the Forest defence ragged.
All of this is encouraging, and must be a great boost for the team's confidence – particularly Beckford's. But, the honest truth was that Forest were dire – the worst performance I have seen live this season. Their defence was slow, they were out-muscled in midfield, and they only put one shot on target all match.
Still, a win's a win – and City played well and deserved it.
City: Schmeichel, Peltier, Konchesky, Mills, Gallagher, Dyer (Kennedy 80), St. Ledger, Wellens, Beckford (Howard 79), Danns, Nugent. Subs Not Used: Weale, Abe, Tunchev, Taft.
Forest: Camp, Cunningham, Boateng (McGugan 46), Anderson, Reid, Greening (McGoldrick 46), Gunter, Harewood (Blackstock 81), Moussi, Findley, Lynch.
Subs Not Used: Derbyshire, McCleary, Smith, Majewski.
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