Derby day ends in deadlock
 |
| Leicester failed to capitalise on several clear-cut second-half chances |
Lewis McGugan
and Andy Reid both had efforts on goal well-saved by Foxes keeper Kasper
Schmeichel before David Nugent's header struck the crossbar.
Lee Camp
prevented Matt Mills and David Nugent from breaking the deadlock in the second
half, while Lloyd Dyer blazed over the crossbar from six yards.
It was a scrappy
derby encounter, and one which failed to deliver in terms of action despite
having the hallmarks of a pulsating match – although Leicester will certainly
take encouragement from their second-half performance.
Leicester
suffered an injury blow in the opening few minutes when Jeff Schlupp had to be
carried off on a stretcher following a strong challenge from Jonathan Greening,
which Foxes manager Nigel Pearson later confirmed could be a long-term injury.
The hosts looked
to capitalise on Leicester 's lapse in concentration and almost went ahead through Lewis
McGugan, but his low strike was excellently saved by Kasper Schmeichel, with
Matt Mills doing well to block Andy Reid's follow-up effort.
Schmeichel was
then quick off his line to stop Andy Reid's close range shot after he had
broken past Aleksandar Tunchev in the Leicester defence.
As the Foxes
began to settle into the match, they began to offer more of a threat in attack,
with David Nugent striking the woodwork from Paul Gallagher's free-kick.
Lee Camp was
then called upon to make an excellent save when Kieron Freeman's disastrous
header backwards had to be tipped wide by the Forest shot stopper.
David Nugent
then caught Luke Chambers napping with his weak header back to Camp, but his
lobbed effort over the goalkeeper landed just wide of the post.
After the break,
Leicester were the stronger side and should have gone ahead when Yuki Abe's
through ball to Paul Gallagher left the winger one-on-one with Lee Camp, but
his shot was poorly struck and flew over the crossbar.
Gallagher then
fired inches wide and into the Forest side netting from 25 yards out with Camp well beaten at his near
post, before Matt Mills' powerful header was directed straight at the
goalkeeper.
As the minutes
passed, it looked as if a replay was inevitable, but Leicester wasted another great
chance when some neat work from Jermaine Beckford down the left wing resulted
in a great pass to Lloyd Dyer in the box, but as the ball fell back to
Beckford, his shot again flew over the bar.
The best chance
of the match fell to the visitors with less than ten minutes remaining when the
excellent Neil Danns picked out David Nugent with a fantastic cross into the
box, his header forcing a stunning diving save from Lee Camp, and Lloyd Dyer inexplicably
fired the follow-up shot from six yards straight over the bar, much to the
frustration of the 8,000-strong Leicester following behind the goal.
Beckford's
snapshot wide with two minutes remaining was the final real chance to break the
deadlock, and after three minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle indicated
that the two sides would meet again at the King Power Stadium in just over a
week's time.
Man of the Match
– Neil Danns
No comments:
Post a Comment