Leicester City 1-0 Leeds United: Harvey Barnes strike spells defeat in Jesse Marsch's first game in charge - YEP 5/3/22
Jesse March's first game in charge ended in disappointment as Leeds United left the King Power Stadium empty-handed on Saturday afternoon.
By Flora Snelson
Harvey Barnes' 67th-minute strike unlocked the Whites
shored-up defence and made the difference in a tightly-contested game.
Finding no reply to Barnes' opener, United were punished for
wasting their chances as Marsch watched just four of his side's 19 shots hit
the target.
The defeat keeps Leeds' points total at 23, leaving the
Whites vulnerable to dropping into the relegation zone with Burnley and Everton
set to play later this weekend.
Marsch made two changes to the team that faced Tottenham
Hotspur last weekend, with Mateusz Klich and Rodrigo coming in Adam Forshaw and
Diego Llorente, as the Whites boss revealed the fitness of the replaced players
was in doubt ahead of kick-off.
Leeds put early pressure on the home side, with a strike
from Dan James and a header by Luke Ayling both going wide of the goal in the
first five minutes.
Jack Harrison claimed Leeds' first big chance of the game.
Dan James carried the ball through the Leicester half and knocked it to the
winger, whose shot was held by Foxes 'keeper Kaspar Schmeichel.
Rodrigo scuppered a fine attacking position for Leeds in the
22nd minute, overhitting a through ball to Harrison to make his angle to shoot
too narrow. The winger returned the ball to Rodrigo, who blasted the ball over
the bar from 10 yards out.
The ball lined up for Junior Firpo to put the Whites ahead
in the 40th minute as Rodrigo's deflected cross found him by the penalty spot,
but Foxes defender Çağlar Söyüncü blocked his shot.
Leicester almost took the lead on the stroke of half time
when Illan Meslier spilled the ball from a Leicester corner. The Frenchman
looked to have caught Wilfred Ndidi's header but the ball sprang loose. Meslier
just beat Söyüncü to it and the teams went in level at the break.
United enjoyed more of the ball in the early stages in the
second half. In the 57th minute, Raphinha found Harrison just outside the
penalty box but Daniel Amartey was quick to react, blocking the winger's shot.
Leeds came close to breaking the deadlock in the 60th minute
when Harrison's cross rebounded off James, Raphinha and Schmeichel in the
six-yard box but the Foxes keeper's touch was decisive and the ball was
cleared.
Marsch made his first substitute in the 63rd minute, with
Rodrigo making way for Joe Gelhardt. Gelhardt wasted no time in making an
impact and was quickly found with space in the penalty box. The teenager
scooped a shot toward Schmeichel's far post but it drifted agonisingly wide.
Against the run of play, Leicester took the lead through
Harvey Barnes in the 67th minute. Barnes played a simple one-two with
substitute Kelechi Iheanacho in the box and tucked the ball inside the bottom
left corner of the United goal.
The home side almost doubled their lead in the dying minutes
when Nampalys Mendy charged uncontested into the Whites box, with the ball
eventually falling to Barnes whose shot was blocked.
Leeds efforts to find an equaliser were hampered by an
injury to substitute Tyler Roberts, who limped through the final ten minutes
after Amartey wiped him out in the penalty area.
