TIELEMANS SPARKS FOXES FIGHTBACK

Cheltenham 1 City 2

Report by Colin Hall

Leicester City recovered from a goal down to beat fourth-tier hosts Cheltenham Town 2-1, as preparations for the forthcoming Premier League season continued.

Over 1200 Foxes made the journey to Gloucestershire and will have been heartened by the spirit shown by their team to overcome an opposing side who gave Brendan Rodgers' squad more competition than their status suggested.

Despite the absence of several players yet to return from summer tournaments, as well as the injured Ayoze Perez, City were still able to field eight full internationals in the starting eleven, including England's Harry Maguire.

The visitors started strongly, with Kelechi Iheanacho seeing a powerful point-blank header turned over by home keeper Flinders. But that was as close as the Nigerian striker came to ending his barren run, on an afternoon where his struggles for form and confidence continued.

Meanwhile, at the other end the Robins were forced to wait until the 16th minute for their first attack, but its arrival brought full reward, with veteran Leicester-born striker Luke Varney outjumping youth defender Vontae Daley-Campbell to give his side the lead.

The hosts retained their advantage until the break, as City enjoyed plenty of possession but rarely produced the cutting edge needed to break down a stubborn and well-drilled defence. With the obvious exception of Maguire (assuming he is still a City player then), few players in the initial line-up made a convincing case for inclusion in the season-opener against Wolves, though Daniel Amartey took encouraging steps towards regaining match-fitness after his horrific injury last October.

After the interval, the introduction of a host of more established players produced the desired effect of an increase in tempo and urgency. In particular, Youri Tielemans produced glimpses of the quality that convinced the club to make him their record signing.

With Ricardo Pereira, playing in an advanced role on the right side of midfield on this occasion, also prominent, City started to threaten the home defence on a more regular basis. Although Jamie Vardy was unable to take either of the first two chances that came his way, he made no mistake with a glorious finish midway through the half after being teed up by Tielemans.

The Foxes were now in complete control, and after several further near-misses, Marc Albrighton connected with a fine through ball from Papy Mendy to round Flinders and put the visitors ahead. It was the type of finish the winger may need to provide with a little more frequency if he is to withstand the challenges to his position that may loom in the coming weeks.

As the hosts began to run out of energy and ideas, and sought to carry out their own squad rotation, City were able to see out the closing minutes without serious threat to their advantage. Recent signing James Justin looked assured at right-back, while Jonny Evans, given the captain's armband for the second half, did it full justice with a typically cool and composed display.

While the result was a welcome follow-up to the midweek victory at Scunthorpe, and will help to boost the morale of those involved, an accurate assessment of the squad's progress will only be available once the missing players return.

Nevertheless, there have been enough signs during the two games to date to suggest that the manager's work is already beginning to bear fruit.

Cheltenham (3-5-2): Flinders; Long (Bowry 83), Raglan, Tozer (c), Boyle, Debayo (Cole 46); Broom, Ince, Clements (Brennan 90); Campbell (Addai 80), Varney (Lloyd 70).

Subs not used: Lovett (Gk), Horton, Chamberlain.

Goal: Varney (16)

City (first half) (4-3-3): Ward; Daley-Campbell, Morgan (c), Maguire, Elder (Fuchs 43); Amartey, King, Wright; Thomas, Iheanacho, Muskwe.

City (second half) (4-2-3-1): Ward; Justin, Evans (c), Soyuncu, Fuchs; Mendy, Tielemans; Ricardo, Fitzhugh (Ndukwu 81), Albrighton; Vardy.

Subs not used: Johansson (gk), Pennant.

Goals: Vardy (68), Albrighton (75). 

Referee: John Busby Attendance: 3707 (1223 from Leicester)

 

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