CITY 2 – 0 BURTON ALBION
Report by Mike King
After the 6 – 1 demolition of Huddersfield, perhaps the City's fans were expecting a goal feast against Division 2 side Burton Albion in this FA Cup third round tie, but in the back of everyone's mind was who put City out of the Capital One Cup at the King Power Stadium at the start of the season – Burton Albion!
Cutting the admission prices probably added a few thousand to the gate, with the majority of City fans herded into the West Stand, which was strange for us East Standers looking across at a completely empty East Stand, but the TV camera at least gave the impression of a full stadium! The Brewers brought 1,600 supporters, perhaps should have been more considering the ticket prices and not too far to travel down the A50.
Nigel Pearson kept Schmeichel in goal and the same back four, but brought in King, Dyer and Futacs, with Knockaert and Nugent sitting on the bench and Drinkwater rested. In fact the bench itself should have been capable of beating any lower division side with a couple of additions, but perhaps Logan could have been given a chance between the sticks just to keep Schmeichel on his toes!
With new signing Woods and Futacs upfront, maybe the long ball to the tall front two from the back four would be evident and certainly Konchesky contributed to this theory early on. After 3 minutes, Konchesky's long ball found Wood, and with two Burton defenders on him, Woods won the ball and slid it passed the advancing Burton keeper Lyness into the empty net from 14 yards for his third goal in two games, certainly an early starter in both games so far to get on the score sheet.
Would the flood gates now open and the City put on an attacking display to delight their faithful? Burton rallied to their credit and managed, somehow, to stem the tide, but they rarely threatened the City defence, with De Laet, as against Huddersfield, raiding down the right.
Burton's centre forward Zola had some nice touches but lacked support from behind and he should have scored as a long ball went over the City's defence and Zola only managed to put the ball out for a goal kick at the far post.
After 23 minutes, the Foxes extended their advantage with a well worked goal. Futacs battled for the ball in the box, found Dyer whose short pass found De Laet who fired the ball home from 10 yards. De Laet will have more defending to do against better opposition than the last 2 games but nice to see him score and give him much more confidence.
Burton were not deterred and Schmeichel made a good save from Weir's drive from the edge of the box. King shot over the bar and then a Futacs header hit the cross bar after a good cross from Marshall on the right. From a distance it was difficult to pick out individually Wood and Futacs as their height and build looked very alike and their squad numbers are also similar – 39 and 29 respectively. Even their boots the same colour.
No changes after the break, as City went all out for a third goal and Futacs had a good chance but blasted over when well placed. Burton are a good passing side, matched for long periods by the Foxes. The tall Zola had a good effort easily saved by Schmeichel after a bouncing ball in the City area saw Zola make an overhead kick into a chance and perhaps if that had gone in the Foxes may have raised their game.
City won a corner and Marshall's cross found defender Keane and his goal bound header was cleared off the goal line by McGrath. With the game won, City were trying to emulate Barcelona or Arsenal with a slow passing game as they had so much time on the ball. King seems out of sorts and every time he received the ball in mid-field he passed backwards which is frustrating when the faithful wanted more action in the Burton half and, of course, more goals.
Knockaert replaced Marshall, much to the supporters delight, and Nugent came on for Wood. Knockaert tried a couple of his tricks and set up King whose shot from the edge of the box hit the post but went the wrong side of the goal. Futacs was replaced by Waghorn as again the City fans wanted more goals, but as the remainder of the game was used as passing practice, the final whistle was blown by referee D'Urso, who surely has never had such an easy Cup game with not even one yellow card seen the whole match as hardly a tackle of note was made by either side.
The City defence had a relatively easy game, with Morgan continuing to show his class, what a signing he has proved to be. Man Utd's Keane looks good alongside Morgan and deserves a run in the team with Whitbread out.
No embarrassment this time and into Sunday's 4th round draw with, hopefully another home draw and a Premier Division side would certainly give the Foxes a sterner test. Back to the league on Saturday and 3 points required at lowly Bristol City to keep the promotion charge on track.
City: Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan (c), Keane, Konchesky, Marshall (Knockaert 62), King, James, Dyer, Wood (Nugent 63), Futacs (Waghorn 75). Unused Subs: Logan, Gallagher, Moore, Schlupp.
Burton: Lyness, Stanton, Honess, Webster, McCrory, Drury (Phillips 73), McGrath (Taylor 62), Bell, Weir, Maghoma, Zola (Kee 73). Unused Subs: Atkins, Dyer, Palmer, Paterson.
Attendance: 14,463 Referee: Andy D’Urso (Essex)
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