Burnley 0 City 2
Report by Kate Thompson
After Tuesday’s draw against Yeovil, when we did not play well (the Leicester City we know and love?) I thought we would do well to get a point against Burnley, who hadn’t lost at home this season and had been pushing us hard for some weeks; had they won by at least two goals, they would have replaced us at the top and I really thought this might happen. O ye of little faith!
With hindsight, I wonder if the players’ minds were on this game on Tuesday. Whatever the reason, they were back to their arrogant best and saw off a spirited Burnley side with ease in the end. They made Burnley look ordinary, just as they did to Derby County in January, although to be fair Burnley were missing key players.
An early injury to Vokes, the other part of their prolific strike partnership, was probably more important than we realised. Leicester, by contrast, have strength in depth and Chris Wood was not only an excellent replacement for Vardy, who went off with a groin strain after just over half-an-hour, he was awarded ‘man of the match’ by Sky.
I was a bit surprised that it was an unchanged team again, as I thought Mahrez was poor on Tuesday – seeing unable to find a team-mate on several occasions – and Nugent looked sluggish. Full marks to the club for the free bacon roll and T-shirt; as Nigel said in his interview after the game, Susan Whelan will have authorise that for every game now! Burnley is an old ground (only three ladies’ toilets for the whole away contingent) and it’s a long time since I’ve sat on a wooden seat and had to peer round a stanchion to get a view of the game!
There was little difference between the two teams for much of the first half but that all changed within seconds of Wood’s appearance. He won the ball and then slipped it to Nugent who did really well to score into the corner with his left foot.
This was at the end away from the City fans and it was not until I saw it again that I realised what a good strike it was – there were five Burnley defenders between Nugent and the goal and he wrong-footed them all. I actually had tears in my eyes, to my surprise, I didn’t realise how important promotion had become to me!
Burnley huffed and puffed but with no reward, even when Morgan slipped in a dangerous area and let in Arfield, but Schmeichel (who had little to do in the match) was able to push it away. Although City were bossing proceedings, a second goal would settle any lingering fears and Knockaert almost scored it with a thundering shot that rattled the crossbar.
Then Schlupp raced up the line, actually going off the field at one stage, to cross; unfortunately it fell to a Burnley player and, although the ball came back to Schlupp, he was not able to capitalise. Then in the 78th minute Knockaert won the ball in the Burnley half and punted a speculative pass to Wood who out-muscled the chasing defender and scored a wonder goal.
In the post-match interview, Sean Dyche moaned that Burnley should have been awarded a free kick, completely ignoring the fact that Vardy’s arm had nearly been pulled out of its socket by Shackell to prevent him scoring. A wonderful thing, a selective memory!
It was only again after the game, seeing the highlights that I – and presumably all the other City fans – knew that we should have a penalty. Still in the end it didn’t matter and Dyche did have the grace to say that his team had been beaten by a better one.
So on to Wigan on Tuesday night and the chance to get one step nearer to the ‘promised land’ of the Premiership. I’m sorry I doubted the players, who emphatically showed me that the grit and determination is still there.
The one worry, and it’s one you don’t think of, is Pearson’s health. Although he said he was fine in the post-match interview (he would say that, wouldn’t he?) he looked painfully thin to me and appeared to walk slowly. I do hope he is OK and that he will be able to continue as our manager for a long time to come.
Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, Wasilewski, Morgan, Schlupp, Knockaert, James, Drinkwater, Mahrez (Hammond 88), Nugent (Taylor-Fletcher 72), Vardy (Wood 34). Subs not used: King, Dyer, Moore, Logan
Burnley: Heaton, Baird, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Jones, Arfield, Kightly (Treacy 79), Barnes, Stanislas (Wallace 62), Vokes (Edgar 8). Subs not used: Lafferty, Cisak, Stock, Long
Attendance: 16,794 Referee: Mike Jones
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