Wigan 2 Foxes 2
Report by Graham Tracey
Leicester extended their unbeaten league run to an incredible 20 games on Tuesday night in a high quality clash against FA Cup holders and semi-finalists Wigan. For the fourth time in ten games, we pulled a late equaliser out of the hat, and the enjoyment of these resilient draws has been every bit as satisfying as the comfortable victories along the way.
Nicking points with late goals will be a very useful habit to carry into the Premiership. On the negative side, we did concede two headers from set pieces, and with plenty of teams next season being capable of walking the ball into our net, we certainly need to minimise the number of avoidable goals we concede.
The team sheet was handily pinned up outside the betting kiosk, and it showed a surprising number of changes. Moore, Dyer and Konchesky were restored after being unable to break back into the team for several games after injury and suspension, and Wood replaced the injured Vardy. There was also an unexpected double change in central midfield, with King and Hammond in action.
The biggest difference was clearly up front. Wood, despite his big contribution against Burnley, struggled throughout and his brawn is no substitute for the pace of Vardy. Moore had an excellent game in defence, and Konchesky and Dyer showed no signs of rustiness. Whilst we did miss the greater speed and invention of Drinkwater, King and Hammond both proved to be unexpected heroes with our goals.
There was a feel good atmosphere to the game, with the clocks change meaning it was still light at kick off, and some excellent tannoy music from the home of northern soul. The home crowd was fairly sparse, with possibly fans saving their cash for the Arsenal game at Wembley. I wouldn’t bet against the Pie Eaters causing an upset there.
Under Uwe Rosler, they look favourites to emerge from the play-offs, and for selfish reasons I hope they don’t as they are improving all the time and could well finish above us next season. Much better than Burnley and Bournemouth go up with us!
We started brightly, with Moore’s header cleared off the line, and Knockaert on the ball at every opportunity. However, Wigan began to rack up corner after corner, one of which was headed onto the far post. Schmeichel made two good saves, including one from point blank range when our defence turned their backs thinking the ball had gone out of play, before Hammond hacked down a midfielder and the fairly basic free kick was headed in with ease from a central position by Ramis on 37 minutes.
It was not the sort of game I wanted us to go a goal down in, but there was a surprise bonus as we levelled before half time. Nugent laid the ball off to King on the angle of the penalty area, and he instantly stroked home a side-footed daisy-cutter off the far post. It was an expert finish, reminiscent of Mark Selby getting down to despatch a long red into the baulk pocket. We almost went in ahead, as Konchesky’s drive was turned away.
The second half continued in high quality fashion, with pace, intensity and both sets of players comfortable on the ball. However, our concentration slipped as Kiernan rose to head home from a corner on 62 minutes. Again we were left to chase the game, which was a difficult task against a 3-5-2 team desperate to cement their place in the play-off zone.
Mahrez, Taylor-Fletcher and Phillips came on to replaced Knockaert, Nugent and Wood and we applied pressure, whilst several times almost being caught on the break. Mahrez blasted our best chance over the bar, but with four minutes remaining, a free kick was guided into the corner of the net by the head of Hammond for his first Leicester goal. An unlikely hero from an honest but limited player in my opinion.
The final whistle was greeted with jubilation on and off the pitch, albeit it meaning that we cannot now formally seal promotion ourselves at home on Friday night. 20 games unbeaten is a great achievement, I was 12 when we were promoted in 1983 and I think we did something similar then. Let’s hope this is followed by a similar length of time (at least) in the top flight.
Working in Manchester, I come across ‘fans’ of City and United on a daily basis whose only involvement in football is to update their Facebook status while watching matches on television. It dismays me that many of them do not have a clue which teams are likely to be promoted to join them next season. They will never experience the joy that going to Leicester games is at present. However, there is a song amongst genuine United fans celebrating their title triumphs called ’20 times, 20 times, Man Utd’ to the tune of Sing Hosannah, which if adapted would make an excellent Leicester song on Friday to mark our 20 game unbeaten run.
LEICESTER: Schmeichel 8, De Laet 7, Morgan 7, Moore 8, Konchesky 8, Knockaert 8, Hammond 7, King 7, Dyer 8, Wood 6, Nugent 6. Subs: Mahrez 7, Taylor-Fletcher 6, Phillips 6
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