Leicester City 1 - 4 West Bromich Albion - 26th October 2010

Leicester City’s Carling Cup run came to a grinding halt as they were beaten 4-1 at home by high-flying West Bromwich Albion.

Simon Cox put the Baggies ahead after 21 minutes with a clever chip over Leicester goalkeeper Conrad Logan, but the Foxes equalised shortly after half-time when Nicky Shorey turned Paul Gallagher’s strike into his own net.

West Brom soon regained the lead after a calamitous goalkeeping error by Logan gave Somen Tchoyi the simplest of tap ins, and Steven Reid’s close range header with ten minutes remaining gave the visitors some breathing room and ended any chance of a cup upset.

Cox added his second – and Albion’s fourth – in the final minute of the game to cap off an unsuccessful evening for Foxes’ manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Roberto Di Matteo fielded an entirely different starting eleven from the side that defeated Fulham at the weekend – boosting them to sixth in the Premier League – whilst Eriksson made eight changes following Leicester’s away defeat at Swansea.

Leicester started positively in the opening twenty minutes of the match, with Paul Gallagher coming close with a low shot from distance which whistled past the post, followed by Lloyd Dyer forcing Baggies’ goalkeeper Boaz Myhill into action after a quick counter attack by Yuki Abe.

However it was their Midlands rivals who drew first blood against the run of play when a defensive mix-up in the penalty area allowed Simon Cox to latch onto Roman Bednar’s deflected shot and cleverly chip the ball over goalkeeper Conrad Logan from six yards.

The visitors almost doubled the lead minutes later when Giles Barnes played a low ball across the face of the Leicester goal, but Bednar was unable to turn it goal bound.

Gallagher fired a free kick wide shortly afterwards, but it was West Brom who finished the half strongly with Somen Tchoyi firing across goal after beating full-back Robbie Neilson to the ball, and Bednar forcing Conrad Logan to make an acrobatic fingertip save to steer his header away for a corner.

Ten minutes after the break, Leicester drew level when Paul Gallagher’s angled shot was inadvertently deflected into the West Brom goal by substitute Nicky Shorey.

The away side continued to threaten the Leicester defence but squandered decent opportunities to restore the lead, with Cox failing to trouble Logan despite beating the last defender, and Bednar heading the ball over at the near post.

The hosts could have capitalised through Yuki Abe after some clever work in midfield by Andy King, but the Japanese international was unable to hit the target with a low drive.

The Baggies were gifted the lead when a harmless long ball went straight through the hands of Foxes’ goalkeeper Conrad Logan and into the path of Somen Tchoyi, who put the ball into the open goal.

As Leicester heads dropped, West Brom began to show their Premier League superiority, dominating possession with spacious passing all over the pitch and denying Leicester any opportunity to threaten for an equaliser.

Logan regained some credibility by tipping Nicky Shorey’s free kick over the bar; however, the ensuing corner kick was headed home by an unmarked Steven Reid with ten minutes remaining to put the visitors 3-1 ahead, and in clear control of the game.

And in the 90th minute, Simon Cox’s unstoppable strike from 25 yards following a speedy counter attack sealed West Brom’s place in the Carling Cup quarter-finals and condemned Leicester City to their second loss in five days.

Man of the Match – Giles Barnes