The King Power Stadium, home of Leicester City based in Leicestershire. Nicknamed the “Foxes” due to the city’s history of fox hunting. 4th March 2020 and Leicester have drawn Birmingham City in the FA Cup fifth round. Me and Joe Clarke decided this would be a good time to go to the King Power and so we did.
Work’s done for the day and now to look forward to the match. Off to the train station and all aboard to Leicester! £15 return! “Railcard my lord, RAILCARD!” 1 hour later, I had landed in Leicester and now to find the ground. Singing just outside the train station and plenty of police around, Birmingham are here! 25 minute walk and outside the ground I was! And now the waiting game for Clarke. Unfortunately just before I did meet Joe, an incident that football could do with out: Hooliganism! Fighting between Birmingham and Leicester fans saw multiple Police Officers have to use Batons to separate them! Not cool lads! Joe was here and in we went, £10 to watch this FA Cup tie! Shut up and take my money! Just in time for Kick off! Leicester fans excited for this one! Chanting and drumming already!
A strong team named by Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers who seemed to be taking the FA Cup very seriously which is great to see from managers at the top of the Premier League these days. “You dirty Villa b*****d” from the Birmingham fans to Marc Albrighton who used to play for arch rivals Aston Villa. Leicester responded with “Marc Albrighton, he’s won more than you!” Good response there. Leicester were dominant! Having all of the ball it seemed and to me what looked like 90% possession but when Birmingham did get the ball, they looked to counter quickly. 10 minutes gone and Birmingham finally did have possession of the ball and they did counter, the ball was played to Scott Hogan who teed up Mrabti on the edge of the box… Deflected wide. 38 minutes gone and James Maddison has the ball driving into the Birmingham area, cuts inside… Save by Lee Camp. Half time the score was 0-0.
Second half, Leicester continued to dominate and started to carve out chances. 56 minutes and Maddison again in the Birmingham box in space, no flag, shot blocked and fell to Iheanacho… Straight into Camp’s hands. Wave after wave of Leicester attacks, there was only one winner in this. 67 minutes and Maddison had the ball in space, “SHOOT” Shouted the Leicester fans, he obliged… OFF THE BAR! So close from James Maddison there. “Wooooooo! Wooooooaaaooohhh! Caglar SOYUNCU!!” The Leicester noise isn’t stopping!!
74 minutes gone and the ball played through to Iheanacho who was through on goal, around the keeper… AND IT’S THERE!! But no, he was offside said the assistant Referee. VAR was there and quickly agreed with the Referee’s assistant. 81 minutes and Leicester were still coming, Ben Chilwell with a deep cross eventually finding Marc Albrighton who made space for the cross towards Ricardo Pereira… THERE IT IS!! 1-0! Header from Pereira gives Leicester a deserved lead! After having a good record myself of not seeing matches that end 0-0, I was delighted to see that goal go in, the run goes on! Birmingham started to attack and right at the end of stoppage time, were awarded a corner. Could the former Derby County and Nottingham Forest keeper, Lee Camp do the dirty on Leicester as he went up for the corner? The corner was taken short and cleared for a throw in but Birmingham had left it too late.
FT: Leicester City 1-0 Birmingham City
Ratings
- Atmosphere: 8/10 – The Leicester drum was banging all game and the Birmingham fans were equally as good!
- The Ground: 8/10 – A lovely ground nonetheless!
- Expense: 10/10 – £10 to visit a Premier League ground can mean only one thing…
- Overall Experience: 7/10 – A good night in the end, just wish the game had a bit more entertainment.
33/40