Bristol City 0 Leicester City 4
Report by Kate Thompson
I was unsure what to expect from this game, given our recent record against Bristol City. As any Leicester fan knows, you can never be sure which team will turn up on a given day but thankfully I needn’t have worried, as we swept away a very poor Bristol City side without getting out of second gear.
The day couldn’t have gone any better, with Middlesbrough, Palace and Hull all losing and Cardiff dropping a point. We are now third in the table on goal difference and only two points behind Hull. If we win next Friday, we will be in the automatic promotion places, if only for a few hours! Come on Peterborough! Talking of goal difference, what a turnaround, I can’t remember the last time we were scoring so freely.
So is Chris Wood the last piece in the jigsaw? It certainly looks like it at the moment, with six goals in three games, but all of them were scored against teams we should beat easily. But those of us with long memories can trot out the games we should have won, especially in the FA Cup, so to have a player who knows where the goal is can only be a bonus. In truth, his second and third goals were down to defending errors, but in the past these may not have been punished so thoroughly.
The Leicester fans had the stand behind the goal that City were attacking in the first half so had a good view of Wood’s hat-trick. There was no reserved seating and there appeared to be lots of empty seats; nevertheless there was an impressive contingent of Leicester fans on a cold day and with a long journey. And full marks to Bristol City, although the ground is old the ladies’ loos were excellent!
Anyway, to the game. Wood’s first goal, which he started and finished, came in the 11th minute and was well taken; he did well to stay onside and timed his run perfectly. His second came seven minutes later after the keeper, Gerken, flapped at the ball and it dropped kindly at Wood’s feet. We had to wait until nearly half-time for him to complete his hat-trick and again it owed a lot to Gerken’s poor judgement as the ball squirmed under his body. But did we mind – what do you think?!
Matty James scored his first goal in a Leicester shirt early in the second half. Bristol were demoralised and part of me had some sympathy for their fans, after all we know what it feels like!
On my journey home, I got a text message from my sister saying that their manager had been sacked. City took their foot off the gas to some extent and for once I was not prepared to criticise them for it, as Bristol posed no threat and had clearly thrown in the towel some time before the end of the game.
The only negative was that Knockaert had to go off in the 20th minute after a hefty challenge from one of the Bristol defenders but Pearson said afterwards that it doesn’t appear to be serious and was a recurrence of a training injury.
This was the moment for Dyer to stamp his authority and cement his place in the side, but sadly he was the one disappointment as his contribution was poor; however, he did clear a shot off the line to preserve the clean sheet. We blame Craig Shakespeare; ever since he said Lloyd was in the form of his career he has not impressed!
It is hard to evaluate the other players because they were under so little pressure, but there were a few examples of excellent defending from the back four. I am particularly impressed with Michael Keane and would love Pearson to sign him, but I can’t see Alex Ferguson being prepared to let him go.
So the long journey home was a contented one for a job well done and a warm glow at climbing the table.
Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan, Keane, Konchesky, Knockaert (Dyer 20), Drinkwater, James, Marshall (Gallagher 72), Wood (Waghorn 61), Nugent Subs not used: Logan, King, Moore, Futacs
Bristol C: Gerken, Fontaine, Wilson, McManus, Foster, Cunningham, Skuse, Kelly (Reid 78), Pearson, Davies, Stead (Anderson 46) Subs not used: Heaton, Taylor, Elliott, Bryan, Burns
Attendance: 13,078 Referee: Oliver Langford
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