There once was an Ugly Duckling !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peter Gilbert 3.2.01

This was one of those winter afternoons when the temptation to stay indoors by the fire was great. It was raw,and that's putting it mildly. But against my better judgement out I went back on the road again which not surprisingly was quiet as people with more sense actually were by the fire. Th e potential prize for going out was high....the chance to do the double over Chelsea for the first time in 40 years.

PT had his 11th signing to date on show...one Junior Lewis......on loan from Gillingham reserves. You only had to look at him to be suspicious, you had to watch him run to be sceptical and you only had to watch him trying to play one touch in the warm up to realise that this was some sort of wind up. Clearly the poor chap had been brought here under false pretences and PT had obvioulsy flipped his lid. It was just cruel to throw him into this 'megabucks' environment and Mr Bates would just laugh in our faces. However if we move to the end of the game we all had a totally different attitude for 'Spider Man' as he was named by a wag in the crowd had totally dominated the central midfield area, he'd won the ball and given it simply at first but as the game progressed he grew in confidence and was twanging the thing all over the place with the outside of his foot with alarming accuracy and such panache that 'Johnny Foreigner' could only stand there and watch...mesmorised. Whoever Junior Lewis is, and where he's come from I do not know, but he has the chance of becoming a folk hero at Filbert Street. Ever heard the song 'The Ugly Duckling' ? - well when you talk about him the story's the same one.

Chelsea started well and I feared the worst I, really did, they could have scored twice early on and they strutted around with such arrogance. Wise crunched Savage then had a go at a ball boy who didn't throw the ball quite to him. The poor lad looked embarassed for a moment then sat down with a look of defiance on his face and we all thought 'No Denis Wise......and your foreign millionaire friends we won't be spoken to like that, and we won't be mastered by you either.'

So Junior whipped the ball out to Steve Guppy who collected it with great skill, he advanced on goal, chipped a ball over which Lebouef (I hate England, they keep kicking me) glanced onwards to where Muzzy Izzett(Chelsea reject!!!) was waiting, he headed the ball into the back of the net sunk to his knees and praised the day he moved to Leicester. In truth we could have had more goals and we should have had really.

At half time Leicester laid further claim to being 'The Sporting Capital of the World' when the Leicester Riders paraded their trophy around the pitch to a rapturous reception, and don't forget the bulk of that gigantic team is made up of local lads.

After the interval we really dominated the game and only lucky saves and poor finishing saved the Chelsea blushes. Sturridge went close and Mancini fed by Savage dropped a pearler on Muzzy's head but he squandered the chance.

Then Chelsea equalised like we knew they would.We'd lost our shape when Mancini went off and Akinbiyi and Sturridge played like a pair of headless chickens. Hassalbaink headed home after Chelsea put together their only passing move all afternoon.

Not to be denied we won a free kick from the kick off which Guppy floated in, it was glanced forward to Rowett who took his time before crashing the ball home to give City a well deserved victory and put them back into 6th place.

There were great moments in this game: Mancini's imagination. Impey and Guppy's ability to take defenders on and put in quality crosses which they did all afternoon. Oh and don't let's forget the time when Savage somehow managed to direct the ball into Wise's face.......what a larf Denis hey hey?

Then there was the solid performance of the back three Rowett, Elliott and Davidson......Royce though never had much to do in all honesty. It was good to see Eadie back who was lively all afternoon........then there was Junior......wow what a player I look forward to further performances from this enigmatic player who has arrived on the scene from 'nowhere' but surely if he carries on like this he could be the answer to our midfield prayers.........it was down to him that others played so well......especially Izzett and Savage who had outstanding games.

Walking back over the bridge whistling a happy tune...........I looked down at the river and saw a flock of swans.........yes Junior I thought......you are a swan.....your time has come..........all the best to you.

How glad I was that I didn't sit by the fire all afternoon, far better to give Chelsea a good roasting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

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