Leicester City FC

Leicester got their fourth away win of the season after Leeds slumped to another damaging home defeat!

Lilian Nalis punished poor marking at a corner at close range, by slamming the Foxes into the lead.

Leeds’ misery was compounded when Gary Kelly headed through his own goal in attempting to clear.

Levein said:

To come to Leeds and win was a good performance and the players are thrilled with the way the game panned out.

Leeds: Sullivan, Kelly, Carlisle (Joachim 77), Butler, Kilgallon (McMaster 83), Wright, Gregan, Walton, Oster (Richardson 66), Deane, Healy.
Subs Not Used: Carson, Spring.

Leicester: Taylor, Makin, Dublin, Dabizas, Stewart, Gillespie (Blake 84), Gemmill (Williams 89), Gudjonsson, Nalis, Scowcroft, Connolly (Morris 80).
Subs Not Used: Heath, Dawson.

Booked: Scowcroft.

Goals: Nalis 48, Kelly 78 og.

Att: 27,384.

Ref: U Rennie (S Yorkshire).

The visitors took a first-half lead when Tony Capaldi picked up a deflected cross from Mickey Evans, and shot it low into the net.

Jamie Scowcroft glanced a header in off the far post shortly after the interval.

Three minutes later a Chris Makin cross was headed in by Dion Dublin to claim his fourth goal this season.

Levein said:

We’re trying to make this into a hard place for people to come and beat us, and we did that.

Hopefully we can turn this stadium into a fortress and pick up points at home.

But after watching that game, I can understand why Leicester were losing matches late on because we were doing some crazy things in the last 10 minutes.

You’ve been told boys!!!

Leicester: Taylor, Makin, Dabizas, Dublin, Stewart, Gillespie (Blake 79), Nalis, Gemmill, Morris (Williams 45), Scowcroft, Connolly. Subs Not Used: Heath, Dawson, Benjamin.

Booked: Blake.

Goals:Scowcroft 49, Dublin 52.

Plymouth: Larrieu, Worrell, Coughlan, Doumbe, Gilbert, Norris (Adams 71), Friio (Makel 80), Wotton, Capaldi (Keith 85), Crawford, Evans. Subs Not Used: Hodges, Lasley.

Booked: Gilbert.

Goals: Capaldi 9.

Att: 23,799.

Ref: P Armstrong (Berkshire).

Martin Johnson has called on Tigers fans to recreate Welford Road’s “fortress” atmosphere at the Walkers Stadium.

Johnson said:

It’s a wrench. Leaving Welford Road with all its years of tradition and history won’t be easy.

But it’s the right move for the club and if everyone gets behind it, it is possible to recreate the atmosphere.”

Welford Road consistently sells out (for those that know the ground that comes as no surprise – squeezed between two of Leicester’s busiest roads) as a 16,800 capacity ground – but the Walkers Stadium holds 32,500 people.

Welford Road has become a very intimidating place for opposition teams.

But we need the new stadium to feel like home and that’s the challenge that the club and its supporters face – we need to get it right from the start and make Walkers Stadium our new ‘fortress’ from the word go.

Neil Back added:

It’s a very emotive issue, but if you look at it from a business, commercial and logistical sense – it’s a no-brainer. The fans’ support over the years has been fantastic. I hope that wherever Leicester plays, the fans will follow.

That’s a challenge to the fans, really, to make the new stadium a cauldron as well.

I think there will be a lot of emotion initially, but I believe it’s the right thing to do for the club to push forward and become the best in the world.

As a professional player, you want to play at the best possible facilities.

In terms of training, we’ve got the best training facilities of any club side in the world, but we haven’t as a ground and the pitch is vital.

Everyone at Welford Road knows that the pitch cuts up a bit and, as a player, you always enjoy playing on a football pitch as it’s a great surface to play on.

The City’s football and rugby teams plan to join forces and move in to the Walkers Stadium….

The move isn’t popular among a large amount of fans on both sides, but talks are underway for Tigers to move from 16,800-capacity Welford Road, to the Walkers Stadium in a link-up “unique in British sport”.

The Tigers consistently sell out Welford Road, while the Walkers Stadium holds 32,500 fans.

The Stadium would be re-branded inside and out, with a new playing surface for both sports and will also be used to host international football and rugby matches, other sporting fixtures, concerts and special events.

It could be ready for the start of next season!

Wigan winless run now stands at three games as the woodwork denied them victory over a spirited Leicester City.

Lee McCulloch’s header cannoned off the crossbar from Nathan Ellington’s cross with 19 minutes remaining.

Leicester had a few chances:

• Keith Gillespie crossing for James Scowcroft to head over.
• Lilian Nalis forcing a fine save from John Filan.

Levein said:

We are getting our defensive play sorted out now but we will need to concentrate on creating and scoring at the other end if we are to make a real go of a promotion challenge.

Any side can beat anyone in this division and if you can string three or four wins together then you find yourself right up there in the thick of things.

Wigan: Filan, Wright (Teale 63), Baines, Breckin, Jackson, Eaden, Bullard, Mahon, McCulloch (Graham 88), Roberts, Ellington. Subs Not Used: Walsh, McMillan, Flynn.

Booked: Roberts, Breckin.

Leicester: Taylor, Makin, Tiatto (Gemmill 76), Dabizas, Keown, Gillespie (Morris 61), Nalis, Stewart, Gudjonsson, Scowcroft, Connolly (Blake 82). Subs Not Used: Heath, Pressman.

Booked: Gudjonsson, Dabizas.

Att: 10,924.

Ref: R Beeby (Northamptonshire).

A Pressman error gave Sunderland all 3 points, when Stephen Caldwell’s 69th-minute header slipped past his grasp.

Earlier on in the game, David Connolly put two shots wide, and Keith Gillespie went close.

Leicester: Pressman, Canero (Dublin 85), Dabizas, Heath, Stewart, Gillespie (Morris 60), Nalis, Gudjonsson (Gemmill 72), Tiatto, Scowcroft, Connolly.
Subs Not Used: Makin, Keown.

Booked: Dabizas, Tiatto.

Sunderland: Myhre, Lynch (Lawrence 72), Breen, Caldwell, Arca, Whitehead, Robinson, Whitley (Danny Collins 89), Carter, Elliott, Stewart (Brown 62).
Subs Not Used: Bridges, Carson.

Booked: Breen, Stewart, Robinson, Whitehead.

Goals: Caldwell 69.

Att: 25,897

Ref: C Penton (Sussex).

Former Leicester and England midfielder Keith Weller has died at the age of 58, after a long battle with cancer.

Weller had an impressive record for the City in the 70′s – making 305 appearances and scoring 47 goals, winning four England caps in the process and scoring one goal for his country.

The club released a statement:

Keith was one of the club’s all-time playing greats and he will be sadly missed.

Team-mate and close friend Alan Birchenall said:

For me he was one of the five greatest ever players to pull on a Leicester shirt.

His death is a tragic loss not just for Leicester but for the whole of English football.

Weller started out at Arsenal also playing for Tottenham, Millwall and Chelsea, where he the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971.

Spectacular goals under Bloomfield’s entertaining Leicester team saw him join the England squad.

Knee injuries cut his career short and he then moved to the US to coach the Tacoma Stars in Washington state.

He retired in 1993 but continued to live in Seattle where he worked for a local television station.

Weller was diagnosed in April 2002 with leomyofarcoma and Leicester fans helped raise £40,000 to fund his treatment.