CITY 1 HARTLEPOOL 0
It was a lovely afternoon: cool and bright. The attendance was thin and not expectant. The pitch looked healthy. There were no urgings from ‘the Birch’. We were set for a fair afternoon’s football.
Near to block H, Chris Powell was trading passes with Aleksander Tunchev. Tunchev wanted the ball on his head! Powell gave it to him with a series of well placed presentation kicks. As it happens, this was auspicious.
Tunchev was, in the event, to be quite the best player on the pitch. His defensive performance was faultless throughout the match, breaking up attacks, heading the ball to his own side, covering all over the pitch. A masterly display in fact, until the 70th minute, when on the offensive for once he ballooned his shot over the bar.
This player could help Howard and Fryatt up front. He needs to develop the self-confidence he so obviously displays in defence in the box. The man is a gold mine. Who identified him and who persuaded him to come to LCFC? Whoever it is should take a bow.
The game set off at a cracking pace with a trademark break up the left hand side from Lloyd Dyer who was pushed from behind and the referee played the advantage rule with great flair and ingenuity. Wow did it turn out to our advantage? Somehow the ball found its way to Oakley who bundled it in to the back of the net, 1-0 after 3 minutes! Little did we know that was the last goal we were going to see!
This might have been a boring outcome, but it wasn’t. The game stayed alive. Neither side took control, but the balance of advantage was with Leicester. The Leicester 4-4-2 formation worked well. If there is a weakness, it is midfield, but everyone knows that. Tunchev and Hobbs were excellent at the back. Howard and Fryatt get on well, but the impression given is of a four cylinder engine where the two central pistons are slightly overawed by the weight of expectation placed upon their shoulders……
Fryatt is a lively figure nowadays, but still appears to play better away from home. Perhaps he needs a little bit more support: Tunchev could give this. Howard is an old hand with a formidable presence winning quite a few free kicks and he is good with his head. The supporters are behind him, but he doesn’t seem to realise this.
The game progressed. Dyer was prominent; whenever he picked up the ball, there was a sense of expectation. His slight frame hides a bundle of energy. He runs at the defence and he can pass the ball along the ground. How the collective will, rightly, hates a ball ballooned into the air. In the opening minutes of the second half, Hobbs made such a mistake. The groan around the ground was palpable. Quite a few players nowadays go for these horrible chip shots which are for the golf course, not the football pitch.
Nicky Adams played, initially, without composure, but gradually he settled. He is industrious and, with time, he looks like an asset. In the ten minute period before the second half, Leicester won six corners on the right hand side. Adams took them all, lofting the ball well, but none of these set pieces looked like producing a score until the last one which Fryatt struck low into the left hand corner prompting a good save from the Hartlepool goalie. Play to Aleksander, Nicky!
Kerrea Gilbert and Chris Powell had a good first half; both are calm, competent and experienced.
1-0 at half time. Neither a yellow card had been given nor a substitution made. Hartlepool had not wilted. Porter and Brown looked dangerous up front at all times. However, the feeling of the meeting was that Leicester were in control. Nigel Pearson referred to the shape and tempo in the programme notes. These 2 words continued to accurately represent Leicester’s performance in the second half. Shape was kept, and the tempo was admirable across the board. The Manager knows what he is about.
The second half opened with a fine run down the left hand side between Powell, King, Dyer and Fryatt. It was a useful sequence that came to knighting. In the 49th minute, Oakley, the Captain, was dispossessed midfield, but Tunchev tidied up.
Howard and Fryatt continued to make trouble for the Hartlepool defence. Hartlepool began to make a series of substitutions in an effort to break back from the deficit. Nigel Pearson remained unmoved. He made no changes throughout the match: most unusual and most interesting. In the event, a correct decision too.
Both goalies were tested at full stretch at the 79th and 80th minute. Tension rose as the match reached its climax. Three minutes stoppage time for injuries was declared. Fryatt was given a yellow card for dissent and the match was over.
It was an entertaining, but not entirely satisfactory afternoon. A very considerable improvement on the Millwall performance. The active reduction of expectations is the way forward in the League.
Leicester: Martin, Gilbert, Tunchev, Hobbs, Powell, Adams, Oakley, Andy King, Dyer, Howard, Fryatt.
Subs Not Used: Henderson, Morrison, Wesolowski, Berner, Craig King.
Booked: Fryatt. Goals: Oakley 3.
Hartlepool: Lee-Barrett, McCunnie, Collins, Nelson, Humphreys, Sweeney (Mackay 70), Liddle (Robson 79), Jones, Monkhouse, Porter (Barker 57), Brown.
Subs Not Used: Clark, Power.
Booked: Monkhouse.
Att: 18,578. Ref: Mike Thorpe (Suffolk).
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