Iversen: We Showed Grit & Determination
- Leicester City drew 0-0 with Newcastle United on Monday
- The fight for Premier League survival goes down to the final day
- Daniel Iversen gave his account of the point at St. James’ Park
- The Foxes face West Ham United at King Power Stadium this Sunday
Following back-to-back defeats, the Foxes knew a third successive reverse would sink the team into further relegation trouble, but Dean Smith’s side stood firm at St. James’ Park to earn a draw and move two points from potential safety with one game remaining.
It was a first shutout since November for Leicester, who withstood waves of pressure from the Magpies as the home crowd tried to suck the ball into the net. City could have won it deep into added time, via Timothy Castagne’s effort, but in the end, it would be a point apiece in the North East.
“We came for the win, of course, it was what we needed, but we'll take the 0-0,” Iversen told LCFC TV in his post-match assessment of the game. “A draw is better than losing and we finally kept a clean sheet. We can take that with us.
“I’m really proud of the team [to get the clean sheet]. It’s the whole team working so hard for it from the strikers to the defenders, it was really good. It’s disappointing we don't score at the end, but they could have scored a couple, so we’ll take the one point.
“When you come into games like this, with so much of the pressure on you, it’s easy to stay focused. It’s more difficult when we’ve got the ball all the time. But it’s very easy to get focused for something like this. I think the defenders and the whole team defended really well today.”
Nevertheless, Premier League survival is now out of City’s own hands, but they know they must do their part by beating West Ham United at King Power Stadium on the final day of the season to have any chance. It’s a 4:30pm BST kick-off this Sunday.
“We focus on that (West Ham) now,” the Danish ‘keeper added. "We haven't spoken about it yet, we will take that on when we come in again and focus on that one. We were so focused on that game today. So this week we will tune in on West Ham.
“We can only do what we can do and try to win against West Ham. After that, we will see what results will come, but it’s just important that we focus on our game and get the three points.”