This Week In History: Championship Victories Over Scunthorpe, Hull & Burnley

Heritage
29 Mar 2020
3 Minutes
Title challenges, play-off pushes and relegation fights were all on the cards for Leicester City during the week between 23-29 March...

With six games to go in the 2007/08 season, Ian Holloway’s Leicester entertained Scunthorpe United at King Power Stadium, on 29 March, 2008

Holloway, who would leave the Club at the end of the season, was City's third manager of the 2007/08 campaign, following the early departures of Martin Allen and then Gary Megson.  

On the field, Lee Hendrie scored his first Leicester goal to secure a vital 1-0 win for the Foxes and leave the visitors perilously close to relegation to League 1.

The midfielder curled a sublime shot past Joe Murphy that went in off the post, after the 'keeper had kept out three Matty Fryatt efforts and a header from Steve Howard.

However, City would only win one of the final five games (a 1-0 victory at Barnsley) and went down to the third tier for the first time in their history on the final day of the season by a single point.

In a very tight division, there was a gap of just 29 points between champions West Bromwich Albion and Leicester in 22nd place, with 52 points not enough to keep the Club in the second tier. 

It was a whirlwind first 20 minutes of play when Hull City visited King Power Stadium in the Championship on 24 March, 2012.

City went into the game unbeaten in their last four home games, so were in confident mood against a Hull side also aiming to stay in play-off contention.

Former Foxes forward Matty Fryatt, who had joined the Humberside club under Nigel Pearson in January 2011, gave the Tigers an early lead, but City hit back soon after when Lloyd Dyer drilled a low, first-time effort into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

And just a minute later, Ben Marshall scored what proved to be the winner, less than half-way through the first period, with a superb long-range strike that found the roof of the net from 25 yards out.

Neil Danns’ red card for a challenge on Andy Dawson left City playing with 10 men for over half-an-hour, but Hull couldn’t take advantage and Leicester held on to keep their play-off hopes alive, climbing within five points of the top six with eight games remaining.

It was a fourth straight home league win for Pearson's Foxes and City went on to finish ninth in the standings, nine points adrift of the play-offs.

Leicester City travelled to Turf Moor on 29 March, 2014 with promotion to the Premier League finally in their grasp.

They knew a win would take them six points clear of Sean Dyche’s side with a game in hand and with just seven further fixtures to play.

That’s exactly what Pearson’s men did, thanks to goals from ex-Burnley striker David Nugent in the first-half and future Claret Chris Wood in the second.

Nugent’s lovely curling effort found the bottom corner 10 minutes before the break and was one of 20 league goals for the Foxes’ top scorer that campaign.

Wood, on as a substitute for Jamie Vardy, sealed the three points with a dipping strike over Tom Heaton in the Burnley goal.

The result extended Leicester’s unbeaten run to 19 games and they would only lose once more before the end of the season.

City marched on to the Championship title in May, smashing the 100-point barrier and finishing nine ahead of second-placed Burnley and 17 clear of Derby County in third.