A lacklustre performance from Rovers saw them convincingly beaten by Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. The away side never got into the match and, in truth, can consider themselves lucky to have only conceded three goals.
Leicester City were the better side straight from the off and only poor finishing and fine play from Jake Kean prevented them from taking the lead inside the opening twenty minutes of the match. Rovers were very much on the back foot, but they nearly took the lead in the 24th minute when David Bentley’s corner was met by Morten Gamst Pedersen and the midfielder’s shot took a deflection on its way to goal, forcing Kasper Schmeichel to produce a fine save to keep it out. The Danish keeper looked as though he had been wrong-footed by the deflection and stood little chance of changing direction mid-air, but he produced a save that his father would have been proud of, one that will undoubtedly be a contender for one of the saves of the season.
The Foxes seemed to be inspired by their keeper’s feats and nearly took the lead immediately after when Michael Keane fired over when it almost looked easier to score. It was a bad miss and Keane will have been relieved when only minutes later Ben Marshall beat Rekik on the wing before putting in a cross that left Chris Wood with the simple task of heading home from close range. In truth, that goal all but ended the match as a competitive affair and Leicester City doubled their advantage before half-time when another Marshall cross was headed home by Kane.
The second half was a slow and dull affair in which Leicester were happy to defend their lead and Rovers failed to do anything to trouble Schmeichel in the City goal. In fact, the away side were so poor that the only real talking point was the decision to remove Jordan Rhodes with twenty minutes to play, handing Nuno Gomes a rare substitute appearance in the process. Rovers huffed and puffed, but created little and the Foxes added to their lead in the dying minutes when King scored from another Leicester City corner.
Rovers are now seven points off the play-off places, although that gap could be extended as both Brighton and Leicester have a game in hand. The poor recent run of form has killed off any hope of making the automatic promotion places and even the most optimistic of supporters will admit that the chances of making the play-offs are fading fast. Promotion is still possible, but Rovers will need to rediscover their goal-scoring form if they are to stand any chance of getting into the top six.
