Four Memorable Matches With FA Cup Opponents Blackburn
Meetings have been few and far between across recent years, with Tuesday’s 7:45pm GMT kick-off the first time the sides have faced off in a competitive fixture for almost a decade. Take a trip down memory lane for some of the previous games involving promotion charges, play-off pushes and relegation battles in the Premier League, Championship and FA Cup…
Leicester City 2 Blackburn Rovers 1
17 September, 2013
Championship
King Power Stadium
The last meeting between the two teams on Leicester soil came in the Championship, nearly 10 years ago, as Nigel Pearson’s Foxes continued their early promotion bid by claiming a 2-1 victory on Filbert Way – their fifth win in seven games.
Andy King played in Lloyd Dyer and the winger toe-poked the ball past Jake Kean in the Blackburn goal for the opener on 16 minutes. Ritchie De Laet was then brought down in the penalty area by Tommy Spurr, earning City the chance to double their advantage. David Nugent took the opportunity, firing high into the roof of the net from 12 yards on the stroke of half-time. The visitors did pull a goal back via a spot-kick of their own in the second half.
Following Danny Drinkwater’s challenge on Chris Taylor, Jordan Rhodes sent Kasper Schmeichel the wrong way to make it an interesting last 20 minutes, but Leicester held on to move to the top of the table. City would end the season as champions.
Leicester City 3 Blackburn Rovers 0
26 February, 2013
Championship
King Power Stadium
The previous campaign of 2012/13 also saw a Leicester win over Blackburn, with Chris Wood scoring on the half-hour mark, heading home Ben Marshall’s cross. Tottenham Hotspur loanee Harry Kane nodded in a second shortly before half-time to mark his home debut, as Marshall claimed a second assist.
Andy King got himself on the scoresheet in stoppage-time, heading in another corner, to round off a comfortable 3-0 success, as City returned to winning ways for the first time in five matches, consolidating fifth place in the Championship table. The Foxes would go on to finish inside the play-off places, losing out to Watford in the semi-finals.
Blackburn Rovers 1 Leicester City 0
13 March, 2005
FA Cup
Ewood Park
The last FA Cup tie came in the quarter-finals of the 2004/05 competition, with Mark Hughes’ side progressing into the last four, courtesy of a late penalty from Dickov, as the former Leicester player – who moved to Lancashire that summer - came back to haunt the Foxes. He'd previously scored 37 times in 97 games during two-and-a-half years on Filbert Way.
The 83rd-minute spot-kick, awarded when Darren Kenton was brought down by Morten Gamst Pedersen, was enough to knock Leicester out under interim manager Craig Levein, while Blackburn reached a first FA Cup semi-final since 1960, but were knocked out by Chelsea.
Leicester City 2 Blackburn Rovers 0
2 November, 2003
Premier League
King Power Stadium
The last time Leicester and Blackburn faced off in the top-flight was almost 20 years ago. The Foxes recorded back-to-back victories over Rovers in consecutive home games, firstly winning 2-1 in the final Filbert Street meeting in March 2002.
A Dickov double, either side of Mark Hughes’ equaliser for the visitors, sealed the points, though City were unable to escape relegation, finishing 20th, with Blackburn ending the campaign in 10th.
In the 2003/04 season, with City now back in the top-flight, they welcomed Graeme Souness’ outfit to the Foxes’ new home and were victorious thanks to two goals in the final 15 minutes at King Power Stadium.
Former Rovers forward Marcus Bent and defender Steve Howey were both among the goals in front of a full house. Sadly, the campaign would again end with relegation back to the second tier for Leicester, ending in season in 18th position.