- Leicester City beat AFC Bournemouth 1-0 at King Power Stadium on Saturday
- The Foxes’ first Premier League victory of the season was secured via Facundo Buonanotte’s goal
- Manager Steve Cooper looked back on a very good afternoon for the Foxes
- He praised both sides of Leicester’s game in order to claim the three points
The feel-good factor returned to King Power Stadium on Saturday thanks to Facundo Buonanotte’s 16th-minute strike, the only goal of a closely fought encounter against the South Coast side.
A maiden clean sheet of the campaign also pleased Cooper, who saw the fight and determination required from his side to get over the line, following the quality they showed earlier in the contest to go ahead.
“I’m really pleased for the players and the supporters,” he said post-match. “I thought it was important to get the win here so that everyone could leave the stadium with a better feeling than the previous games. The support was excellent, particularly in the second half when we really needed them. It was great to get that first win.
“The first half was a good game, we really wanted to take the game to Bournemouth and be an attacking threat. We scored a goal, nearly scored an even better second and I always felt we were on the edge of creating chances and scoring goals.
“We looked a threat and defended really well as well, because to win a Premier League game, at some stage you have to do everything. Today, we did enough to be a real attacking threat in the first half.
“We had slight moments in the second half, not as much as we’d like and it was about heart and soul and having a clear mind. We managed to do that really well against Bournemouth, who are a good team as well, they’ve built it over a number of years with a lot of investment.
“In the second half, the intention was to try and get the second goal and we felt there were spaces in the game that we should have exploited. At half-time, we showed them the difference between when we got it right and when we didn’t.
“Naturally, they were going to get more bodies up the pitch and go longer quicker than what they did in the first half and it’s natural to try to match their numbers and you end up going deeper.”
Coming through a period of adversity, Leicester move up to 15th in the standings, onto six points from their opening seven matches back in the top flight. There’s now a feeling of determination to build on Saturday’s result after the international break, with Cooper assuring that no one will be getting carried away following victory on Filbert Way.
“Everybody gave everything in the game,” the 44-year-old continued. “They give everything every single day in training. Of course, in the first quarter of games there’s things we could have done better, but some things have really gone against us as well.
“To get that grey cloud away from us of getting that win, we’ve really got to think now about getting some more positive results like this. It’s brilliant and you’ve got to enjoy it, because it’s so hard to win games in the Premier League, but it’s one win. From now, there won’t be a day that goes by without me thinking about how we beat Southampton.
“Obviously we’ll reflect, but all with the idea of how we can improve to try and go back-to-back when we return after the international break. It’s painful when you lose and no one hates it more than me, but it makes you work even harder when you go through a run of results where you don’t get a win.”