A fluke own goal from Esteban Cambiasso was enough
to separate West Bromwich Albion and Leicester in a closely fought encounter at
the King Power stadium.
It was a case of wrong place, wrong time for the Argentine
two minutes after half time as Saido Berahino's cross from the left was headed clear
by Foxes defender Wes Morgan straight onto the thigh of the backrushing
Cambiasso who was left helpless as the ball rolled agonisingly over the line past
the outstretched ‘keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
The first half was a complete stalemate with both sides
cancelling each other out in midfield meaning there was little goal mouth
action. Baggies ‘keeper Ben Foster almost gifted the game to the home side with
barely eight minutes gone as an attempted throw-out saw him step out of his
area. The Leicester players appealed for
a free-kick but referee Stuart Atwell judged that the England keeper was still in
his area providing him with a lucky escape.
West Brom’s best chance came from a corner from the
right by Chris Brunt which was headed towards the far post by Craig Dawson but
was cleared off the line by Cambiasso. The Foxes replied with arguably the best
chance of the half. The ball bounced up high into the air and striker
Jamie Vardy found himself in a lot of space on the six yard line but fluffed
his overhead kick effort straight into the arms of Foster.
The deadlock was finally broken on 47 minutes when
in-form striker Berahino burst down the left hand side of the box before cutting
the ball back only for the clearance by Morgan to ricochet onto Cambiasso and
into the net.
The Foxes
pressed for an equaliser but the Baggies backline stood strong. Jamie Vardy
forced a good save from Foster with 62 minutes on the clock, latching onto a
long ball from defender Paul Konchesky then Andy King headed into the
goalkeeper’s hands when he should have scored.
Substitute Nick Powell had the final chance to
snatch a point but screwed his shot so wide that the ball actually hit the
corner flag, much to the annoyance of the home fans.
The Baggies held out and earned a much needed three
points after a run of draws in the league and their disappointing exit from the
Capital One Cup on Tuesday night against Bournemouth. As for Leicester, it was
another defeat for a side struggling to find consistency in the Premiership
after their emphatic 5-3 win over Manchester United a month ago.
Manager Nigel Pearson admitted his side were ‘unlucky’
but refused to be downhearted despite his side’s poor showing in the Premiership
table.
Meanwhile, Baggies boss Alan Irvine was delighted
with another win despite the nature of the goal.
“I’ll take goals like that anytime if it means
three points,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment