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Leicester City progressed to the third round of the Carling Cup with a 3-1 victory against Hereford United at Edgar Street this evening. The Championship side's extra ability shone through by the end of the game, although they were helped along the way by some questionable decisions by the referee and his assistants.
Hereford's first eleven was unchanged from Saturday, but Andy Ferrell and Phil Gulliver returned to the bench at the expense of Sam Gwynne and Gareth Sheldon. United couldn't continue from where they left off against Bury though as, other than an early burst from Stuart Fleetwood, Leicester enjoyed the better of the first half. Elvis Hammond in attack for City had a good early chance when offside wasn't given, but he scuffed his shot before Wayne Brown made a fantastic save, tipping Iain Hume's effort wide.
Danny Tiatto crossed from the left moments after, and Gareth McAuley headed against the cross bar. Another delivery from the left was met by Richard Stearman was deflected over before the visitor's pressure finally paid off when Hammond smashed the ball home from just inside the box. He managed to hold off Tamika Mkandawire before hitting a powerful shot on the turn, delighting the 578 away fans.
United came back at their higher graded opponents, but it was McAuley who came closest to equalising with an own goal before the interval. Andy Williams and picked out Tim Sills, whose head back across goal was sliced by the defender, forcing 'keeper Conrad Logan into a save.
The second half began with United a renewed force, with Rob Purdie who'd played poorly in the first half taking the game to his former side. He almost netted two minutes into the half when he broke out of midfield to latch onto Travis' ball, but a slight deflection carried his effort wide, via the outside of the post. Trent McClenahan had headed wide after Brown triggered a counter attack before Purdie crossed for Martyn Giles at the near post, but Logan denied him with a low save.
With eleven minutes of the half gone though, Hereford were back on level turns when 'keeper Logan took down Fleetwood, who threatened to round him and The Bulls were given a penalty. Logan though was only yellow carded, though nobody worried too much about that, at the time, as Purdie converted the spot kick. Logan didn't dwell on his mistake though, and was in action again moments later, denying Fleetwood who tried to curl in from twenty yards.
Sills was next to be kept off the score sheet by the 'keeper as his looping header from Travis' cross was punched away, with Logan at full stretch. The ball fell to Fleetwood who forced Logan into another terrific save from an angle, and Logan was helped out by his defence as a third effort from Richard Rose arrived. Then, totally against the run of play, The Foxes were back in front. A corner wasn't dealt with on sixty six minutes, and Stearman evaded Sills at the far post to steal in for Leicester's second.
Things went from bad to worse for United, as Fleetwood pulled up injured, allowing Alan Connell to be introduced. It was what happened in the seventy sixth minute that angered United fans though, as McClenahan was penalised, having felled Levi Porter in the box, but the only difference from this challenge and Logan's earlier one, was that McClenahan saw red, much to the annoyance of the home fans in the crowd of 4,073. Hume stepped up and gave City a two goal advantage.
United didn't back down though and were threatening again soon after as Dean Beckwith headed over Purdie's corner, before Sills saw a low effort blocked by Logan. At the other end, Brown was called into some rare second half action, and he saved superbly as McAuley headed powerfully from close range. With a minute left on the clock, the referee had his red card out again following a collision with Patrick Kisnorbo and Sills, leaving both sides with ten men. Logan, who arguably shouldn't have been on the pitch, still had another save to make in injury time, and did so superbly well, denying Connell's close range volley.
So United were edged out in the end, but had the referee laid down the law and shown Logan a red card when he felled Fleetwood, the outcome could well have been much different, as the 'keeper went on to prove himself as City's best and probably most important player on the evening. Hereford will be able to take many positives from their second half performance into their game next Sunday against Wrexham.
HUFC: Brown, Giles, Mkandawire, Beckwith, Travis, Purdie, Rose, McClenahan, Williams, Sills, Fleetwood. Subs: Gulliver, Thompson, Ferrell, Jeannin, Connell.
LCFC: Logan, Kisnorbo, Maybury, McAuley, Stearman, Wesolowski, Tiatto, Low, Porter, Hume, Hammond. Subs: Henderson, Johansson, Sylla, O'Grady, Dodds.
