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Foxes and Magpies to fight it out for top spot.

Posted on August 30th, 2009 | 32 Comments |

Toon v Leicester - Monday
Toon v Leicester - Monday
Monday evening sees The Blue Army of newly promoted Leicester City pay their first visit to St James Park since 2004. Having tasted life in Division one, they were promoted as champions at the end of last season and are now enjoying life in the championship.

Ex-Toon caretaker boss, Nigel Pearson, now the man in charge of the Foxes, has ensured a good start to the season where they remain undefeated in their first four championship matches. If they win tomorrow they will go top,giving them something extra to play for.

With Shola already ruled out with a foot injury,another local lad from Byker, ex-toon season ticket holder and Newcastle mad Leicester City striker Steve Howard is desperate to play in tomorrow night’s clash at St James Park. It looks as if his prayers will be answered as he is likely to be passed fit following a recent hamstring injury.

Leicester are hoping to play their on loan left back, Ryan McGivern, a seemingly talented lad signed on Friday from Man City, where he struggled due to the competition for places. A couple of other new faces, Yann Kermorgant and Paul Gallagher, two loan signings in the past week, will also be in contention to join striker Matty Fryatt who has scored three goals this season.

Leicester have been allocated 2800 tickets for the match and at the latest count have sold over 2000, so a decent following for an evening bank holiday Monday match which is live on Sky.

The Foxes have contributed towards some very entertaining matches against the Toon over the years. Who could forget our 7-1 win in 1993 on a sunny Sunday afternoon in May our last home match of the season? Where Lindisfarne played and Newcastle paraded what was then the league one trophy after Keegan got us promoted. Or the home game in 1997, when Leicester, with 13 minutes to go, and winning 3-1, were rocked by an unbelievable Alan Shearer hattrick which saw the Toon fans walk away ecstatic after witnessing a remarkable 4-3 win.

Unfortunately Alan Shearer is not on the Christmas card list of any of the Leicester fans I know (being the closest team to where I live) due to the infamous head to boot, or boot to head incident on Neil Lennon in 1998 and the subsequent FA ruling that it was an accident, further fuelling the indignation of the Foxes fans! If Shearer was already installed as manager for tomorrow’s game it would certainly have added a bit more noise to the fixture but that scenario is looking increasingly unlikely.

Well we only need one point to go top but with all our first choice strike force out and a lack of loan or indeed any signings coming into to help bolster the ranks it looks like Nile Ranger will feel the weight of expectation as he is likely to toil upfront on his tod. Hopefully recent goals from Nolan and Taylor will have given them a taste for more and we need to see a lot of support for Ranger from our midfield, even Smudger as an ex-goalscorer might break his duck. It looks like Joey Barton will be back from injury and should have a place in the starting eleven.

Potential line up for the mags could be: Harper, Simpson, S Taylor, Collocini, Enrique, Smith, Nolan, Barton, Guthrie, R Taylor and Ranger.

With Leicester clearly taking time to find their goal scoring prowess by failing to score any goals in the first half of any championship games this season, it remains to be seen if we have the firepower to take advantage of this potential achilles heel. Leicester’s record at St James Park is very poor losing 37 of the 57 ties and winning only 7. They last played there in the premiership in 2004 when Sir Bobby was still in charge and Newcastle finished the day 3-1 winners when Shola again (can’t believe I’m writing that) found his way onto the score sheet.

Let’s hope the Toon do well. I’m off to the match tomorrow, so will no doubt see more of the travellings mags on the way and am predicting a 1-0 win. Comments welcome.

NUFCBlog Author: geordie deb geordie deb has written 38 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

32 Responses

  2. Evening Hugh
    Yes I do to. Can’t see a lot of goals in it though.(famous last words!)

  3. Good craic! Got the green light from the better half and looking forward to my first home game this season and hoping for a win.

  5. actualy nufc must sign at least 2 cennter forward and 2 deff and mid to win games in the chapiopinship with ranger and lua lua or donaldson nufc wont win at foxes

  7. Thanks Batty, I do try, very trying some would say!
    Anyway lets hope we go top tomorrow.

  8. You do have a good team,i agree with that but dont underestimate us,sheffield united fans commented on different websites that they were lucky to get a draw against us as were Ipswich.We now have some very good players and even though i beleive you may end up as in the top two i feel there may be a shock on the cards.
    prediction NU 1 LEICS 2

  9. I dont agree with Batty,s comments and for the sake of all you NU fans i hope the next NU manager dosent think the same,Leeds,Leics,Forest,Southampton thought the sameThis is a very tough division.

  11. Russ – and they say we are deluded.
    Think the only shock will be leics going home after a good Geordie spanking.
    2-0. Another clean sheet.
    Howay the Lads.
    :D

  13. Although you have started well you are losing too many good players and not replacing them. I think, unless things change, your squad wont hold up to the physical demands of the championsip and you will fade away.

    The mighty foxes, on the other hand, are definately on the up and an easy 2 – 0 win on the cards tonight!!!!

  14. Foxes Nick ….

    “Although you have started well you are losing too many good players and not replacing them. I think, unless things change, your squad wont hold up to the physical demands of the championship and you will fade away.”

    That’s very true.

    “The mighty foxes, on the other hand, are definitely on the up and an easy 2 – 0 win on the cards tonight!!!!”

    We are without our first choice strikers and without Jonas, but I certainly think we still have enough to at least get the draw, particularly at home.

    It could be close and I wouldn’t be entirely surprised whichever way the result goes, but if I’d still favour a home win. If we were away I’d be much less confident.

  15. People keep saying how physical the championship is, but up to now at least, there has been no evidence of this. We have smith and barton who are both up for a bit of the physical stuff, so not bothered about that.
    What I am more bothered about is our lack of strike force.
    Still think a clean sheet is on the cards, but that will depend on how well colo plays.
    Leics have a couple of new strikers who could be a danger for us, but they haven’t won away this season yet, and have only scored 1 goal on their travels.
    Should be a good un.
    Game on.

  16. BB – Foxed Nick might just be referring to the fact that The Championship has more games to play and that will have an impact at the end of the season. I think that’s a valid point, even if that’s not what he was implying.

    In terms of the physicality during games, I agree that we have strong characters and no-nonsense players. I guess that in itself is a worry because it could lead to a poor disciplanary record but I suppose we’ll see.

    I also agree with the strikeforce issue and I think most of us share that worry. I’d echo Hugh’s views in post 14 and I can only hope we can keep a clean sheet and nick a goal from somewhere. I’m not expecting a classic though. All the best to the two Leicester lads. Good to have some decent banter. Don’t hold it against us if we surprise you with another 7-1 mauling. Aye right……

  17. Or maybe even ‘Foxes Nick’…..and ‘disciplinary’…..

    Blame the post-anniversary hangover shakes!

  18. easy win for the toon tonight y not gonna score past harper who is by far the best keeper in the champion ship

  19. Batty ,i hope you will be on tonight after the game so i can say i told you so.
    N,guessan and Adams will bw to qick for you down the flanks and dont forget when we went down we had the second best defence in the division and then Fryatt was out for much of that season now we have him back scoring goals and Howard ,himself a geordy will want to bash you centerhalfs around and prove himself against his home town club.
    Banter apart i have always adored your fans which i beleive are the best in the world and if my beloved Leicester dont go up i hope you do because you deserve to be there playing against the uniteds and Liverpools but i still think the best you can hope for tonight is a draw but again i think we will win.
    See you tonight Batty

  22. OK , its time to eat a bit of the old humble pie.
    I thought Leicester were the better side in the first half but you were the far better side in the second,we didnt have a final ball and no one to get on to Howards flick on,s.I dindt think it was easy but the better side won.
    Peasons ,in my view got it wrong by leaving out Adams and picking a forward to play on the right but as i said the better side won.

  23. Russ, unlucky mate. It was a close game. On that performance away from home Leicester should have a good season.

  24. russ thank you but like i said earlyer harper is a class above any keeper in the championship and i think you might stay up but only just lol

  25. Thanks Hugh but i think tonights game was a reality check for us Leicester fans ,Pearson more or less had a full squad to pick from and whilst i disagreed with his team selection it showed that we have no one able to get crosses in from either flank for Howard or play that final ball through your defence.
    To be honest i didnt think either side played that well but you have the good excuse of many players missing as i said befor WE didnt
    Top half i think for us and you will be up there in the top four

  26. Cheers Batty
    Yes you out fought us in the second half,with Smith outstanding and whilst anonymous in the first half Barton came more into it and together they bossed the midfield.
    I hate losing especially just before a 2 week break ,its worse for the wife she has to put up with me until the next match lol.

  27. russ i would say you are the best team we have played up to yet your up there with west brom think u might sneak the play offs m8

  28. Well done Russ for being man enough to come back with those comments. Your team played well enough to beat a lot of others, yous never gave in, and we were hanging on a bit at the end.
    Like I said though going home with a geordie spanking (just).lol
    Toon Toon
    :D

  29. Cheers Beardsley
    I will look for this site and hope to banter with you all when you come to the Walkers.Apart from then i wish you luck and as i said earlier if we dont go up fro the sake of all you NU fans i hope you do
    Until then

  30. We are top of the league, we are top of the league!lads did well but
    Smith outstanding, Ranger excellent full debut. We could walk this league with some squad strengthening and the lads playing with confidence, self belief and a great team spirit.

  31. Good craic russ. I thought you looked neat and tidy at times but stopped throwing the ball into the box after the first half hour. After that even though Howard was a handful you tried in vain to force long diagonal balls. I think you’ll be there or thereabouts this season. Spoke to a few fans and had decent banter with them. Saw a couple watching your lot train too so they must have made a weekend of it!