Gudjonsson goal puts Leicester through

Blackpool 0 Leicester 1

A long-range effort from Joey Gudjonsson saw Leicester defeat Blackpool in the FA Cup third round replay at a blustery Bloomfield Road.

The Icelandic midfielder hit a powerful shot from distance to put the Foxes halfway towards earning a fourth round trip to fellow Championship side Reading.

Blackpool had the better of the opening exchanges with Keigan Parker firing just wide after latching on to a Martin Bullock throughball inside the first minute.

But after that, the gale-strength wind dictated that much of the first-half was played at a standard that could not even be described as scrappy.

Eighteen-year-old Lewis Edge, who was making only his second ever appearance in the Blackpool goal, had had a largely uneventful opening. But after 16 minutes, he was picking the ball out of his net.

Gudjonsson picked up on a misplaced Simon Grayson pass 30 yards from goal and, with the strong wind behind him, hit a shot over Edge’s head to give his side the lead. Edge’s unease was again demonstrated when he spilled a James Scowcroft strike.

At the other end of the pitch, Foxes veteran Ian Walker was making his first appearance in the Leicester goal since August following a knee injury but, the early Parker effort aside, the 33-year-old had a quiet start to his return to action.

For all their industry, Blackpool were not creating opportunities and it was Leicester that continued to threaten.

Scowcroft, stuck out on the left flank inexplicably sent a header wide from six yards from Gareth Williams’ cross.

The best chance Colin Hendry’s Seasiders had in the opening period came six minutes before the interval after Walker had spilled Mark McGregor’s shot.

But Simon Lynch, who has just extended his loan spell from Preston by a further month, shot straight at the former Spurs goalkeeper, who later claimed well from Peter Clarke’s header.