Three Wins On The Spin For Kelly's Foxes In Brighton
Ahead of Sunday's Premier League encounter between the two sides, a 2pm BST kick-off at AMEX Stadium, LCFC.com winds the clock back 15 years to a second-tier encounter which came during a brief period of joy for the Blue Army in the middle of the 21st century's first decade...
Brighton 1 Leicester City 2
Saturday 11 February, 2006
Championship
Withdean Stadium
Two goals inside 60 seconds propelled Leicester City, under the caretaker management of Rob Kelly, to a third successive victory in the Championship as the Foxes left Brighton with a 2-1 success in 2006.
It came weeks after Craig Levein had departed the Club following 15 months in charge on Filbert Way as the Foxes slipped into the bottom three of the second tier. Kelly, a former City player and the Scotsman's assistant, stepped up into the post on a temporary basis.
The transformation was immediate, though, as Leicester secured a 3-2 success at Queens Park Rangers, followed by an impressive 1-0 win over promotion candidates Wolverhampton Wanderers at home. Next up was Brighton, overseen by former Foxes manager Mark McGhee.
City's positive momentum continued on the south coast as captain Paddy McCarthy slotted home Joey Guðjónsson's corner after just four minutes. Almost straight from the restart, meanwhile, it was 2-0 to the visitors as Iain Hume dodged goalkeeper Wayne Henderson to slot in a second.
The travelling Foxes faithful could hardly believe it at Withdean Stadium, but the Seagulls tried to mount a comeback and they were aided by an error from former Celtic shot-stopper Rab Douglas, who allowed Alexandre Frutos to get one back in the 56th minute.
Nonetheless, City battled on and were able to see out a crucial three points. With speculation increasing that Kelly had done enough to earn the permanent manager's position, he told the media: "I'm not thinking about it, I've never even considered it. I just try to do as good a job as I can in whatever I do.
"We're in a difficult situation but the future will take care of itself. The board will do what is best. All I've asked of them is to let me know what will happen and when."
City: Douglas; Stearman, McCarthy, Kisnorbo, Johansson; Sylla, Hughes, Wesolowski (Smith 54') (O'Grady 81'), Guðjónsson; Fryatt, Hume (Gerrbrand 86').
Subs not used: Henderson, Hammond.
Goals: McCarthy 4', Hume 5'.
Attendance: 7,187.