Leicester 1 Norwich 0
Report by Eddie Blount
How fickle are the football fates! At Highbury in City’s last game they conceded in heart-braking fashion to virtually the last kick of the game; today they snatched an invaluable three points in the last minute of normal time to go, temporarily at least, five points clear at the top.
It shows character and nerve if nothing else and these qualities, and more, will be essential if the ultimate dream is to be realised.
We all knew this was going to be a tough match, given City’s record against the so-called lesser teams. These teams are on the cusp of relegation and regularly so, unlike some of the threatened teams who have greater pedigree and would consider it beneath them to come to Leicester merely to park the bus.
So beating Norwich and Bournemouth and their ilk was always going to be a major challenge given that City are par excellence a counter-attacking team. Norwich played three centre-backs to nullify the threat of the prolific Vardy and you have to say that the tactic worked. In front of a back five Norwich played the usual bank of four which became six as the full backs pushed up in support.
Cameron Jerome ploughed a lone furrow up front, a role he has yet to master. Just to make certain Norwich dropped as deep as possible to ensure there would be no ball over the top for Vardy to run on to. The long and short of all this was to produce an attritional game with very few chances to either side.
The first half was dominated possession-wise by City but we have all learned this season in particular that the possession stats mean virtually nothing and that what you do with possession is what matters. To be honest neither side did very much! The ball saw very little of either penalty area meandering thirty metres in one half before going the same distance in the other.
True City spent far more time in Norwich’s half than they did in ours but the glimmers of chances were nonetheless pretty evenly distributed. A cross from the right almost turned into his own net by a Canaries’ defender and a free kick from Albrighton which just evaded Huth and the far post were as good as it got for City whilst Jerome lost control when put through and later spurned an excellent chance heading wide from a corner when it seemed easier to score. It was obvious from way out that this would be a match of few chances and if one came your way you had to take it.
In the second half the balance of play was more even as City and the capacity crowd became more and more frustrated. Inevitably the referee came in for some stick especially when he seemed to be setting his stall out to claim the world record for time taken to use his spray can. His technique was to spray the spot from which the kick should be taken in relatively normal time, then to pace out the distance for his second spray. So far not much different from other referees! However in true One Man and his Dog fashion he would then attempt to round up candidates for the defensive wall! Manna from heaven for people who want to see as much time wasted as possible. At one stage it would not have surprised me if he had started interviewing them for the post!
All this gave the suffering crowd, already braving the Arctic cold, a focus for their discontent with the visitors. But everything come to those who wait apparently and so it was today. The last ten minutes of the match were far more open than anything which had gone before and taking advantage of this City broke quickly down Norwich’ left flank. Mahrez released Albrighton at just the right moment with, for the one and only time the defenders back-pedalling towards their own goal. He made ground before crossing hard and low across the face of the Norwich goal to the far post where the onrushing Ulloa was perfectly placed to slot into the net.
Cue pandemonium, understandably. City proceeded to play out added time with a degree of comfort making it in excess of seven hours since Leicester conceded a goal at the King Power. It was a rather ugly win but who cares!
All City players put in a good shift as per normal. Amartey at right back made a sound debut and the rest of the back four were outstanding. Schmeichel had lots of touches (some better than others) but very little to do. Drinkwater and Vardy were watched By Roy Hodgson’s assistant and did nothing detrimental to their international ambitions. Schlupp made an encouraging return as a twenty-minute substitute.
Kante went off before the end apparently with some tightness in his hamstring and we all hope that proves to be minor as we can ill afford to lose this totally outstanding midfielder. His biggest weakness is his finishing and he spurned the best second half chance, other than the goal, when he elected to pass up a shot from close range. Human after all!
City: Schmeichel, Amartey (Ulloa 78), Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Drinkwater, Kante (King 70), Albrighton, Mahrez, Okazaki (Schlupp 69), Vardy
Norwich: Ruddy, Pinto, Bennett, martin, Klose (Bezua 90+2), Brady, Redmond, Tettey, Howson, Naismith (Jarvis 82), Jerome (Bamford 90+2)
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