March 13th 2005 - F.A. Cup Quarter Final.
Blackburn Rovers 1 Leicester City 0.
History repeats itself with a disputed penalty for Blackburn in a big match against Leicester. Former City favourite, Paul Dickov scoring the penalty winner just 7 minutes from time. City received magnificent support from 7,000 travelling fans. We may not have the most skilful team in the country, but I for one am so very proud about how hard they fought in this game. The late penalty was hard to take, and I believe we deserved another crack at them in a replay at the Walkers Stadium.
It is games like this, ones where we get defeated, maybe unfairly, that makes me really proud to be a city fan and more than ever, wanting us one day, hopefully in my lifetime, to be up with the best and competing with them. Maybe we can’t be one of the elite, but every so often, we will tweak one of the big boys. I wouldn’t class Blackburn Rovers as a big team, but at the present time as they are Premiership and we are not, they are a team that should beat us. We gave them a good run for their money today. My biggest fear on the night before the game wasn’t that we would get badly beaten, but that we might freeze or put in a nothing sort of performance, that did not happen today. OK , we didn’t make many chances, but neither did they. We kept in the game and after 80 minutes, any result was still possible. Could we ask for anymore than that , away to a premiership team in the quarter finals of the FA Cup ? .
One little break in their box from a corner or a set piece and we could have been in dreamland and heading for South Wales. I didn’t want us to be the plucky little team who had a go, I wanted us to beat them. A few days before the game, I fancied we might get a draw, as match day approached, I really thought we would beat them. Even Alan Hanson at the end of Match of the Day said we did well.
I think Filbert the Fox deserves a special mention for this pre match performance in helping to get the crowd going. They didn’t need his efforts, but he really threw himself into it. On returning home, it was nice to see that Gary Lineker had a Leicester City flag draped over the table at the start of BBC’s Live Match of the Day coverage of the game.
I am sure that many will moan about this player or that one, but we were in the last 8 of the FA Cup, we don’t often do that, it might be 10 years before we do it again !. We were for one afternoon back in the big time, maybe just for 90 minutes, but it felt good. We showed that we are a big club, we have the fans, we are not Manchester United, but when you see teams like Bolton Wanderers in the top half of the Premiership, we can surely do that !.
Fans invested a lot of time and money in this game. I know of Foxiles who flew into the country to see this game, others who travelled from the South Coast of England and the South West. That shows a lot of commitment. If LCFC do well, the fans will support them, we have proved that again today.
A Quote from the Independent Newspaper, I think sums up the penalty incident well.
" The spot-kick had been given by Neale Barry on the advice of a linesman after Morten Gamst Pedersen, the Blackburn midfielder, fell under challenge by Darren Kenton, who is on loan from Southampton. The tackle was ill-advised, if not necessarily illegal, and to judge by the time he took to make up his mind, the referee shared the doubts voiced by Leicester's manager, Craig Levein. "
If you were at the game, I think you did the club proud, and if you were a Foxile sitting at home, screaming at the TV, you did your bit too.
2011.
I recall staying overnight on the Friday at a hotel where all the City fans met up on the Saturday before going to the nearby ground. I have some photos that I must dig out oneday and put online. A different world to the Non League world that I ive in now with Ebbsfleet United. Main difference being with Ebbsfleet that I know a lot more of the fans.