Match Report:Coventry 0 Leicester City 1

Leicester may have had a glamorous pre-season – but it has clearly taught them grit.The international connections of Sven Goran Eriksson saw the Foxes take on a trio of high-profile European sides – but it was a good, old-fashioned Championship performance which earned them their first three points of the season.There was nothing crude about the play – hosts and visitors both knocked the ball about well – but Leicester had to show some doggedness to eke out the victory.They suffered as Darius Vassell was red carded after only 11 minutes when he went for a loose ball and caught Richard Keogh.That gave Coventry the upper hand but they failed to make it count and were reduced to 10 men when Carl Baker rashly dived in on Richie Wellens.Leicester hit the post before the interval and soon after the break they sealed the points through a first Championship goal from Lee Peltier, who joined them in the summer from Huddersfield.
Wellens, who is all too familiar with the Championship, believes the side will have to gel from the off to justify their tag as promotion certainties.He said: “We played against some top teams, so our shape was always going to be good. We have played Real Madrid, Valencia and Real Majorca.They have had the majority of the ball in those games so our pre-season has largely been made up of running and that showed!“It was the first time that this side had played together so you would expect it to take some bedding in but there is no time for that. We have to hit the ground running so we can get up there and stay up there.“We were bottom after nine games and struggling, whereas QPR won their first seven and were up and away from that point on. That gives you some room to have not such a good spell, which is almost inevitable.“We have a massive squad and if those in the team don’t do well, I am sure he will bring others in.”Coventry, on the other hand, have been tipped for the drop after losing three key players in the summer, but Wellens was impressed by the new style introduced by manager Andy Thorn.He added: “I did not think it was a typical Championship game at all. Coventry got the ball down and played some really good football.“Their manager has come in, changed the way they play and I thought they looked a very good team.“They lacked a cutting edge but the lad Lukas Jutkiewicz did well for them and caused problems.“I thought we were always in control, we defended well, kept our shape and created a few chances.”Certainly Thorn has brought a new style to the Sky Blues after the axing of Aidy Boothroyd with 10 games to go last season.But the departure of leading scorer Marlon King and a pre- season injury to Freddy Eastwood, has left them short in front of goal.That, and Baker’s silly challenge, made it an uphill struggle they could not quite overcome.Skipper Sammy Clingan said: “When we both had 11 men, I thought we were on top for the majority. They had a man sent off and I felt we were in control.“Leicester are the team who have been spending the most money. They are the Manchester City of the Championship but there was not much between us.“We moved the ball well from side to side, got into the box and created some chances, but there was a lack of concentration from our player to get sent off because the referee is always likely to even it up in those circumstances.“It was not in an area where the challenges needed to be made and it was a bit of stupidity, but you learn from these mistakes and move on.“I am sure that Carl will learn from it. I think their player made the most of it, but he told me that Carl did catch him.

“You see sendings-off for less than both of those challenges, but the referee had made his decision and you have to stick at it.“We have Lukas and Gary McSheffrey there and hopefully they can combine well together.
“We lost Kingy, who was good in front of goal but him going is not the be all and end all and we had to move on.”