Foxes pile on the misery for Rovers

Leicester 2 Blackburn 0

Leicester moved off the bottom of the Barclaycard Premiership as late goals from Marcus Bent and Steve Howey piled on more misery for luckless Blackburn at the Walkers Stadium.

A tense affair exploded into life with two goals in the final 20 minutes to end a run of five successive league defeats for Micky Adams side.

It doomed Blackburn to their fifth setback on the trot, and they have slipped into 19th spot in the table.

The game was expected to be a nervy affair, given what was at stake and the recent form of the two clubs.

But Blackburn will be kicking themselves that they returned home pointless after looking the more incisive side for long periods.

Both Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole will know that they should have done done better when well placed – although there were rare moments of danger to a Leicester defence well marshalled by Frank Sinclair before he was carried off with a calf problem.

Leicester were even less of a threat up front until the closing stages, despite the hard work put in throughout by Bent whose opening goal represented their first direct effort on target.

But the Foxes will feel they were due a slice of luck after recent performances which merited a greater tangible reward than has materialised.

The opening exchanges were frenetic, with tackles flying in from both sides in a match neither could afford to lose.

A back pass from Markus Babbel almost let in Bent, and it needed goalkeeper Brad Friedel to react quickly to fly-hack the ball clear.

Leicester were unhappy with early borderline offside decisions which brought an end to several promising moves.

But Blackburn slowly appeared to be taking control, and the first semblance of a chance fell to Brett Emerton after 28 minutes.

There was a bout of head tennis between the two sides before the ball fell to Emerton – but he drilled his shot into the side-netting from 12 yards out.

The play was littered with unforced errors, but Yorke squandered a great chance to put Rovers ahead after 32 minutes.

Barry Ferguson’s ball into the area was turned by Cole into the path of Yorke - but from 12 yards out he drilled his shot over the bar when he should have at least tested Walker.

Blackburn defender Vratislav Gresko then appealed in vain for a penalty, believing Andrew Impey had put out a hand to try and block his cross.

Yorke had the ball in the Leicester net after 45 minutes, but the referee’s assistant rightly had his flag up for offside.

The Leicester fans tried to inspire their team with a constant wall of noise at the start of the second half, but it had little immediate effect.

It was Blackburn who threatened to move ahead when a snap shot from Cole flashed into the side-netting after he had taken a pass from Yorke in his stride.

City defender Howey became the first player to be yellow-carded after 54 minutes for a challenge on Yorke.

Blackburn continued to look more menacing, and Cole twice came close to putting them in front in the space of a couple of minutes.

Walker did well to block a shot on the turn from Cole after a low cross from Yorke had deflected into his path.

But Cole should have done better when he was freed in the area by Emerton only to drill his left-footed shot over the bar.

A loud cheer greeted the introduction of Paul Dickov, who had been suffering from a cold, in place of Les Ferdinand.

But then after 74 minutes Bent’s hard-work was rewarded when he got in front of Gresko to turn home Muzzy Izzet’s free-kick.

The game was all over as a contest seven minutes later when Howey made no mistake from close range after first Matt Elliott and then Jamie Scowcroft had headed the ball back across the danger area.