Bristol City vs Leicester City. Sky Bet Championship.
Ashton Gate StadiumAttendance25,857.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Bristol City and Leicester City at Ashton Gate on Good Friday | Anis Mehmeti's thunderbolt seals a narrow win for Liam Manning's men, with the Foxes suffering their fourth defeat in six league games
Friday 29 March 2024 19:27, UK
Leicester's alarming, ill-timed slump continued on Good Friday as they were beaten 1-0 by Bristol City at Ashton Gate.
With Jamie Vardy having passed up several chances to put Enzo Maresca's side in front, Anis Mehmeti's thunderbolt with 73 minutes gone settled the game in the Robins' favour.
The defeat was Leicester's fourth in a run of six games, where they have picked up just four points, with hopes of the title beginning to slip away somewhat.
And after Ipswich's win later in the day, it meant they dropped to third in the Championship table, their lowest position since the first week of September.
Before their 20-day league lay-off, Leicester had lost their long-held status as Championship leaders after Leeds' ruthless surge into the automatic promotion places. There were few signs they could shake off their malaise in the south west.
The Foxes were unable to hit a single shot on target in the first half and could count themselves pretty fortunate not to be behind at the break, particularly after a superb double save from goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who first batted away Tommy Conway's shot and then a follow-up from Scott Twine.
Two penalty appeals from the hosts were turned down, too. Conway went down after a slight clip from Wout Faes, who had grabbed a handful of his shirt, while Rob Dickie was bear-hugged and blocked off in the box by Hamza Choudhury.
Vardy struck two shots inches wide of the left-hand post in the first half and, just after the hour was denied by a superb recovery save from O'Leary - who had earlier made a double save of his own - when City's Zak Vyner's slack pass presented the former England frontman with an open goal.
The hammer blow came with 17 minutes to play, when substitute Mark Sykes squared for Mehmeti, who teed himself up and blasted home the winner that could leave out-of-form Leicester scrambling to finishing inside the top two in what remains of the season.
Bristol City's Liam Manning:
"I have to admit I expected our net to bulge with the Vardy chances but Max O'Leary did an outstanding job. He has international ambitions with Ireland and they are looking increasingly realistic.
"We might have had a couple of penalties and the lads were terrific in carrying out our game plan. In the end, we deserved the result.
"Results have not always gone our way recently but the dividing line between success and failure in the Championship is so slim.
"I see the lads in training every day and I know how keen they are to learn and improve.
"Players like Anis Mehmeti are still at the beginnings of their careers. He can frustrate at times but his goal showed what he is capable of producing.
"You always need to ride your luck at times against quality opposition but I couldn't be happier with the overall team performance."
Leicester's Enzo Maresca:
"There would be cause for concern if the performances weren't there. But we are creating so much and our recent defeats have all been down to not finishing our chances.
"The reaction of our fans at the end was understandable. All I can say to them is if they get nervous now it can transmit to the players over our remaining games. They have been brilliant up to now.
"Jamie Vardy doesn't need to apologise to anyone after all he has contributed over the years.
"Even the best strikers miss chances. That's football. He will continue to be a very important player to us over the remaining games.
"We have another game in 72 hours so there is no time to dwell on this defeat. We have to recover quickly and be ready to face Norwich."
Both teams are back in action when the Sky Bet Championship continues on Easter Monday.
Leicester host Norwich at the King Power at 12.30pm, live on Sky Sports Football, while Bristol City make the trip to Home Park to face Plymouth at 3pm.
