Leicester City 1 Portsmouth 1 - December 31st 2011

Foxes frustrated following New Year's Eve stalemate

Leicester City promotion hopes were dealt another blow this afternoon as they were held to a draw by Portsmouth at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester City have taken nine points from eight games following Nigel Pearson's return to the club

Marko Futacs put the visitors ahead with a fierce volley following some lackadaisical Leicester defending, but former Pompey striker David Nugent equalised for the Foxes four minutes later with an excellent header.

Both sides had chances to win as Greg Halford hit the Leicester woodwork while Yuki Abe had a powerful strike well-saved by Pompey goalkeeper Stephen Henderson.

Leicester have now been held to three consecutive home draws, and are without a win in five games.

The Foxes looked positive in the early stages of the match when youngster Jeff Schlupp rode a heavy challenge before firing just wide from 25 yards.

But the game soon settled down before Lee Peltier's hanging cross into the Portsmouth box almost picked out Paul Gallagher at the far post.

Chances were few and far between in the first quarter of the match, but it was Portsmouth who took the lead on twenty minutes after Leicester's defence failed to clear a David Norris cross, and the ball eventually fell to Marko Futacs who made no mistake from close range, blasting past the helpless Kasper Schmeichel.

It was a soft goal to concede, and one former centre-back Nigel Pearson will not have enjoyed watching.

Portsmouth's early lead sparked Leicester into life as Lee Peltier delivered another scintillating ball across the face of the goal just moments later.

The Foxes were soon level through David Nugent who was on hand to head Paul Gallagher's free kick past Stephen Henderson.

It was Nugent's eighth league goal of the campaign, and his second consecutive goal against his former club.

The visitors should have restored their advantage when Schmeichel lost Joel Ward's high ball in a dangerous position, but Greg Halford's header struck the woodwork.

Schlupp nodded on another Paul Gallagher free-kick with ten minutes remaining in the half, but Sol Bamba could not find the finishing touch at the back post.

On the stroke of half-time, Yuki Abe's fierce strike from 20 yards was excellently saved by Henderson, and the Portsmouth shot stopper did well to thwart Schlupp's follow-up attempts.

After the break, Liam Lawrence forced Kasper Schmeichel into a near-post save before Andy King's volley did little to test Stephen Henderson.

Marko Futacs fired high and wide inside the Leicester penalty area moments later before Paul Konchesky came close for the hosts at the other end.

Portsmouth looked the more likely side to go on to win the match, but the introduction of Jermaine Beckford with twenty minutes remaining injected life into the home side, as the former Leeds and Everton striker had his angled strike parried by Henderson.

Beckford then had a penalty shout waved away by referee Colin Webster despite seeming to have been upended by Joe Mattock's clumsy challenge.

Lloyd Dyer hit the side netting in stoppage time but the final whistle meant that the points were shared as Leicester City were held at home once again.

Man of the Match - Yuki Abe

Leicester City 0 Portsmouth 1 - 19th March 2011

Leicester’s hopes of reaching the play-offs were dealt another blow this afternoon after losing at home to an in-form Portsmouth side.

David Nugent scored the only goal of the game in the after Leicester failed to deal properly with a long throw in.

Paul Gallagher and Yakubu squandered good chances for the Foxes in the second-half as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men fell to a fourth defeat in six league games, leaving their promotion hopes hanging by a thread.

Eriksson introduced Jeffrey Bruma back into the starting eleven in replace of Miguel Vitor as his side looked to extract revenge on Portsmouth, who head beaten Leicester 6-1 at Fratton Park earlier in the season.

The first chance of the game did fall to Leicester when Yakubu headed just wide from Paul Gallagher’s cross into the penalty area.

But it was the visitors who looked the sharper of the two sides during the opening stages and were ahead after thirteen minutes when Sol Bamba’s poor defensive header fell directly into the path of David Nugent who found the net with a volley through a crowd of players.

The goal was a sloppy one for Leicester to concede, and Eriksson will have been disappointed to see his side undone by another set piece.

The former England striker was again at the heart of another Portsmouth attack moments later after breaking down the right wing before firing a low cross into the penalty area; however, Yuki Abe was alert to smother the ball behind for a corner.

At the other end, goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown pulled off a superb save to deny Sol Bamba’s towering header from a Paul Gallagher corner.

Leicester then began to put pressure on the Pompey defence after good work from Richie Wellens and Yakubu teed up Paul Gallagher on the edge of the box, but his effort flew just wide of the post.

Andy King had a glorious opportunity to net for the Foxes when Kyle Naughton picked the midfielder out with a fine cross, but the Welshman failed to trouble Jamie Ashdown with an unmarked header.

The home side looked likely to score at the end of the first-half but whilst Leicester’s build-up play was positive, there never seemed to be an end product to trouble Ashdown.

The second-half was one of few clear cut chances but the Foxes should have been level when Jeffrey Bruma’s superb long ball behind the Portsmouth defence fell to Paul Gallagher who found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Jamie Ashdown did well to quickly close him down and block his low shot.

Eriksson introduced Lloyd Dyer and Martyn Waghorn on in quick succession but it was Portsmouth who looked more likely to score as they caught Leicester on the counter-attack through Dave Kitson who did well to escape Sol Bamba, and his pull back gave Jonathon Hogg the opportunity to set up Joel Ward, but the substitute inexplicably fired wide from six yards.

With less than ten minutes to go, Yakubu fired over from a good position before Kyle Naughton’s thunderous strike from distance was well-saved by Jamie Ashdown at the near post.

Leicester continued to come close in attack but when Jeffrey Bruma’s fine ball in across the face of goal escaped both Ben Mee and Lloyd Dyer, it seemed as if it simply was not their day.

The final whistle indicated a second consecutive home loss for the Foxes, and while Sven’s men remain just five points outside the play-offs, they slipped to eleventh place in the Championship with just eight games remaining.

Man of the Match – Dave Kitson