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F.A.Cup Round 3 Replay. Wednesday
December 22nd. 1999
Leicester City 2 Hereford
1
City Struggle to Victory
Peter Gilbert 22.12.99
In all the years that I have been a Leicester
City supporter and that goes back to the 1950's, I have never
been afforded the opportunity of watching a side that gracefully
cruises through games. Neither has the team, it has
to be said, ever gone into a game with no hope of a positive
result. I have seen us beat Manchester United and lose to Stevenage,
such is the nature of the beast. Being a Leicester
fan is never boring, never predictable, and in my experience
one can hardly ever predict the result.
Even now when we have the best manager ever and arguably the
best team ever we cannot step onto our own turf against non league
opposition without a huge question mark hanging like a moon in
the sky above us.
On this, the darkest day of the year when we appear to have put
our boardroom squabbles to rest, Leicester City proved once again
how beautifully, how seductively and how addictively unpredictable
they are.
Hereford for their part scored a psychological advantage before
the kick off when they carried out their tradition of having
a gaggle of supporters kick a rounded, painted swede from the
half way line into the goal. It's a good job Pontus
Kaamark has left us, Swedes are not known for their sense of
humour. The away support was as bright and as vocal as any I
can remember, they came to enjoy themselves and they nearly ran
away with the dubious prize of a trip to Highbury. Had they succeeded
no-one would have begrudged them their victory. We all stayed
behind afterwards to applaud their team's effort as they reluctantly
left the arena and disappeared down the tunnel to resume their
part time lives. Butchers, bakers and candlestick makers they
might be but on tonight's showing they can return home as heroes,
beaten but unbowed.
Had it not been for the herculean efforts of Robbie Savage and
Muzzy Izzett we might well have lost this match and a certain
young man by the name of Parry playing in black and white would
have hit the headlines, however that didn't happen and we won.
Hereford scored first after half an hour when a cross from Parry
was rushed at by Arphexad, but with Gilchrist marking his man
he effectively blocked his goalkeeper's irrational charge and
the ball somehow was flipped into the unoccupied goal for yet
another softee for us to endure.
All manner of substitutions were made by MON as he tried to shake
a mediocre outfit with so many of it's vital components missing
into some sort of life.
With 10 mins to go all subs were used and Impey disappeared down
the tunnel. As he did so Oakes who had not distinguished himself
all night flighted a good ball into the goal mouth which Fenton
met with a crisp header. His effort was pushed away
but the ball fell to Elliott who smashed in the equaliser, much
to everyone's delight.
We nearly didn't make it into extra time as efforts from Elliott
and Taggert were kicked off the line and we set ourselves for
our second 'lock in' in seven days.
By this time Leicester were the dominant force but the performance
was dragged out of the team by Savage and Izzett who must have
been infuriated by the anonymity of too many of their colleagues.
After 14 mins of extra time Fenton in defensive mode headed out
a clearance which most players would have stood and watched and
waited for it to go out for a throw in. All except that is for
one Robbie Savage who chased the ball down, kept it in play,
advanced 10 yards, fed Cottee down the right who crossed to the
far post where Izzett was waiting, having run 70 yards. His downward
header went through the keeper's legs for a moment of pure joy.
Muzzy scored it but the brave heart and never say die attitude
of Robbie Savage made it and the crowd knew it.
Right at the death Hereford nearly drew level when they had an
effort cleared off the line by Oakes. However Elliott had suffered
in similar fashion when his goal bound shot was kicked away.
So Leicester City have resolved their inner
turmoil; good - that's great and the new board has the opportunity
to organise a the development of a new stadium and make funds
available for a team that has strength in depth. We cannot
sustain a challenge on anything when we have to field a team
without Flowers, Guppy, Lennon and Heskey . We can only hope
that the likes of Izzett and Savage have enough reserves of energy
to come back from this performance where they showed us they
have the qualities to be described as very good players. The
mediocrity of our subs bench is simply not acceptable at present.
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