Leicester City v Scunthorpe United

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Football League Championship

Leicester City :
Ikeme, Morrison, Miguel Vitor, Berner, Hobbs, King, Dyer (Moussa 87), Wellens, Gallagher (Abi 67), Howard, Waghorn.
Subs not used:
Logan, Neilson, Kennedy, Moreno, N'Guessan.

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Byrne, Mirfin, Nolan, Canavan, Togwell (Collins 78), Woolford, J.Wright, Dagnall, Forte, Grant (O'Connor 56).
Subs not used:
Slocombe, Raynes, McClenahan, Boyes, Godden.

SULSESC REPORT

by Leicester Mercury at Walkers Stadium

On their way to reaching last season's Championship play-offs, Leicester City carved up Scunthorpe United like a good old-fashioned Sunday roast.

When Lloyd Dyer slotted home City's second at the Walkers Stadium shortly after half-time on Saturday, City fans were justifiably anticipating tucking in again, this time under the gaze of manager-in-waiting Sven Goran Eriksson.

But what happened from that point underlined City's current predicament in the lower reaches of the Championship.

Scunthorpe rallied with a goal from nothing and Leicester were suddenly on legs of jelly.

Their confidence has not just become wafer-thin in the wake of the rash of goals conceded - it is the width of a fag paper.

Those jitters transferred into the stands where a comfortable afternoon suddenly became one of seat-squirming tension.

"We've lost our shape," said one City fan to his pal, who pointed out: "We're sitting too deep, giving them too much room."

Neither observation could be disputed. From looking distant runners-up, The Iron were suddenly dictating matters.

Martyn Waghorn had the chance to settle the affair with a third goal but blazed over, not helping the feeling among home supporters that all the early endeavour was about to come to nothing with the all-important win bolting out of the gate.

"More composure. He could have taken a touch and passed it into the net!" commented one exasperated fan, looking anxiously at his watch.

He need not have worried, though, none of us should.

Franck Moussa sealed victory with an unerring finish from 20 yards deep into added-time and the mixture of joy and relief around the ground was evident with the roar from 20,000 throats that greeted the Frenchman's strike.

"No-one can say we didn't deserve to win," went the conversation next to me. "We were good for the first hour - but awful in the last 20 minutes."

"Not the best performance but the win is all that matters," were the sentiments of another City fan. Absolutely spot-on. It is now a case of whether Leicester can build on a morale-boosting success and cast out the demons of their distressing start to the season which had left them looking up at the rest of the table.

One Fox was adamant about the future well-being of his side. "The revolution starts here!" he cried.

Revolution? Maybe that is taking things a touch too far - Paulo Sousa's entourage had hardly been in place long enough to constitute a regime.

And Scunthorpe are not the sternest test in the Championship by any stretch of the imagination. Even so, there was definitely a feeling in the home camp that, with three points in the bag and Eriksson stepping into the breach, a corner had been turned – and not a moment too late.