10 Defining Matches of the Decade

[Fez of Mahrez]

Tried to stay positive with them (hence no 0-5 v Bolton or Wycombe fiasco):

http://www.thebluearmy.co.uk/news/Leiceste...il/article.html

What others would you have included? Feel free to comment on the article rather than on here.

Cheers.

In the absence of any action to report from the Keepmoat Stadium, I thought I would try to pick out 10 matches that defined the decade for Leicester City Football Club as we enter the final days of the so-called Noughties.

The first pair arrived within a week of each other as Martin O'Neill followed up his second League Cup triumph with a 5-2 thrashing of Sunderland in the league.

The future looked bright, with European football on the horizon and the imperious front pairing of Emile Heskey and Stan Collymore looking unstoppable on that incredible day at Filbert Street.

Heskey was shortly to leave for Liverpool and Collymore's career never recovered from his ill-fated stay with City.

The third defining game was also against Sunderland as O'Neill's successor, Peter Taylor, guided City to the Premier League summit with a goalless draw at the Stadium of Light in October 2000.

It seemed clear that Taylor's side were flattering to deceive though and the inevitable slump almost proved fatal for the club.

City's last game at Filbert Street, a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, signalled the end of Premiership football and a new stadium heralded a fresh start in a lower division.

Micky Adams won promotion back to the top tier and City fans enjoyed a crushing 4-0 success over Leeds United with Lilian Nalis notching one of the best goals scored by a Leicester player.

It was a false dawn as far as the season was concerned and our stay in the Premiership was brief.

New Scotland boss Craig Levein was next in the City hot seat but there were few memorable matches from his time at the club, the picks of the bunch being a 4-2 home win over Sheffield United, in November 2005, and a famous FA Cup comeback victory against Tottenham at the Walkers Stadium two months later.

Rob Kelly battled to save City from the seemingly inevitable but it was a tumultuous year under multiple managerial teams that finally saw relegation to the third tier for the first time in the club's history.

The 2007-08 season was difficult for City fans but a thrilling 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest in the League Cup offered welcome respite.

League One turned out to be a joy, though, and a 4-0 thumping of promotion rivals Peterborough United showed exactly what new manager Nigel Pearson's freshly-assembled side were all about.

The glorious revival was complete in April this year when Matty Fryatt's double sealed the title at Southend and City fans partied on the beach front in celebration.

Things are looking up again for the Blue Army.

Many fans may have memories of their own favourite games from a decade that began and ended with magnificent silverware.

[CosbehFox]

Funny really when walking to the game on Saturday...my brother said games against Sheff Yoo at home are always a bore (this was after me saying that a 3-2 thriller either way would have entertained me and kept me happy). I had to remind of the 4-2 slaying with Warnock doing his nut in as Ryan Smith resembled an English Messi on the right wing.

[Head Honcho]

Not so much defining more memorable but my games to remember were the League cup games we had before getting to the finals. Wimbledon with the famous laser treatment being handed out to Vinnie Jones when he was taking throw ins and the Leeds game being my most memorable.

[stez]

off the top of my head; watford - first game at the walkers, spurs in the cup - when we were shown what de vies was capable of.

plus whatever games katy came up with

[Kilworthfox]

Tried to stay positive with them (hence no 0-5 v Bolton or Wycombe fiasco):

http://www.thebluearmy.co.uk/news/Leiceste...il/article.html

What others would you have included? Feel free to comment on the article rather than on here.

Cheers.

I know you were being positive mate but there really was not much to be positive about in the 00's My defining games:

The League cup victory over Tranmere obvious high starting point!

Under Taylor the Charlton loss away & that penalty

Forest at home 2 vs 1 Wright winner.

Portsmouth @ home, loss 1 vs 3 under Adams doomed us.

I remember a game at home to Cardiff (loss 1 vs 2) where we lumped the ball to Fryatt all game with no midfield that defined Levein's era

I also remember getting smashed 0 vs 4 at home to Wolves

Loss at Home to Sheffield Wednesday 1 vs 3, then the relegation at Stoke.

Then Leeds at home 0 vs 1

[Asha]

I know you were being positive mate but there really was not much to be positive about in the 00's My defining games:

The League cup victory over Tranmere obvious high starting point!

Under Taylor the Charlton loss away & that penalty

Forest at home 2 vs 1 Wright winner.

Portsmouth @ home, loss 1 vs 3 under Adams doomed us.

I remember a game at home to Cardiff (loss 1 vs 2) where we lumped the ball to Fryatt all game with no midfield that defined Levein's era

I also remember getting smashed 0 vs 4 at home to Wolves

Loss at Home to Sheffield Wednesday 1 vs 3, then the relegation at Stoke.

Then Leeds at home 0 vs 1

Interesting how for your 'defining games', you've got most of the scores wrong.

We lost to Charlton away under Taylor, but what penalty?

Forest at home, Wright winner, was actually 1-0.

Losing 3-1 to Portsmouth? Erm, we played them twice at home under Adams to my knowledge...a 1-1 draw in the promotion season (Trevor Benjamin scoring), and a 3-1 win in the last home game of the 03/04 season.

Smashed 4-0 by Wolves? Think that was 4-1.

Can't have been that defining.

[Corky]

Bristol Rovers at home last season, having been 1-0 down on the back of a disappointing run of form. Won it 2-1, went 20-odd unbeaten which virtually won the league.

If we hadn't turned the match round would we have been so clear at the top?

[CosbehFox]

Bristol Rovers at home last season, having been 1-0 down on the back of a disappointing run of form. Won it 2-1, went 20-odd unbeaten which virtually won the league.

If we hadn't turned the match round would we have been so clear at the top?

For me, the defining game of last season was the 2-1 win at Scunny to send us top...and probably the 2-2 at Swindon which gave us a lesson in humility.

[dandannieldanok]

Interesting how for your 'defining games', you've got most of the scores wrong.

We lost to Charlton away under Taylor, but what penalty?

Forest at home, Wright winner, was actually 1-0.

Losing 3-1 to Portsmouth? Erm, we played them twice at home under Adams to my knowledge...a 1-1 draw in the promotion season (Trevor Benjamin scoring), and a 3-1 win in the last home game of the 03/04 season.

Smashed 4-0 by Wolves? Think that was 4-1.

Can't have been that defining.

spot on with those NSLL

Unless I'm getting mixed up wasn't that 4-1 defeat on the final day of a season when we had bugger all to play for, hardly defining.

[Fox92]

I don't know where the decade starts but I have picked my favourites since 2000. They are not really 'defining', well I don't think so anyway, just my favourites. (not in any order) All good games, not bad:

Leicester 3-2 Tottenham - Great comeback against a team in a higher division

Tottenham 4-4 Leicester - Not a great result but an entertaining game on our behalf

Leicester 4-0 Leeds - Premiership perfection with that Nalis bloke scoring a goal

Leicester 5-2 Sunderland - Stan's dream debut, the fans' dream match

Leicester 3-3 Fulham - A penalty shoot out on the way to Wembley

Manchester City 0-3 Leicester - With the last away game being Wolves, we needed something

Leicester 1-0 Leeds - Although we were top, we needed something and Stevvvvie provided

Nottingham Forest 2-3 Leicester - Who could forget? Stearman and Clemence in the last few minutes

Leicester 2-1 Bristol Rovers - The game that started that unbeaten run

Tranmere 1-2 Leicester - A cup final, a win, Wembley, what more do you want?

[Ultra]

The 10 games selected (all wins) can't really be described as "defining" a decade in which we lost considerably more games than we won, and sank to the lowest points (both on and off the field) in our history.

Here's my list of 10 really defining moments.

1) City 5 Sunderland 2 - March 2000. No quarrel with this choice - the best victory of the O'Neill era. In front of the Sky cameras, Collymore, Heskey and the rest of the side blew apart the myth being peddled at the time by many pundits (and Arsene Wenger) that we were a "boring" team. Sadly it would be the last time that team would ever be seen.

2) Chelsea 0 Leicester 2 - September 2000 - A particularly sweet occasion for those of us nursing bitter memories of recent controversial cup defeats at Stamford Bridge. Collymore was by now limited to cameo roles, yet he still tore Chelsea to shreds and took us to within touching distance of the Premier League top spot (and helped Peter Taylor land a brief role as England manager!)

3) Leicester 1 Wycombe 2 - March 2001 - Sorry Fez, but we can't rewrite history and pretend this game never happened. Its consequences remain with us to this day. Despite indifferent form, we were still in the Premier League top four and this game would surely confirm our place in an FA Cup semi for the first time in nearly two decades. Except, of course, it didn't. Everything on the day went for Wycombe and against us, culminating in Roy Essandoh's last-gasp winner, which caused a deep dark cloud of self-pity to descend on Filbo and stay there for many months afterwards.

4) Leicester 0 Bolton 5 - August 2001 - An occasion every bit as humiliating as the scoreline suggests. The unveiling of the new midfield partnership of Robbie Savage and D****s W**e was intended to strike terror in opposing hearts, yet only succeeded in winding each other up. Meanwhile a modest Bolton side, featuring discarded CIty players such as Mike Whitlow and Ian Marshall, strolled to the easiest of away wins. Our place among football's elite was now on course to disappear.

5) Leicester 2 Watford 0 - August 2002 - After the traumas of the previous 18 months, a winning start in our first game at the Way was imperative. Thanks to Brian Deane, we got it, and set the tone for an immediate return to the Premier League. Had this not happened, City would not have survived the year, let alone the decade.

6) Leeds 3 Leicester 2 - April 2004 - Many fans gleefully remember the 4-0 beating we dished out at the Way earlier in the season, yet it was the return which ultimately had the more impact for us. Despite the reverberations of La Manga, we were on a six-game unbeaten run (although five of those games were draws) and were in confident mood going up the M1. However we fell behind to two contentious early goals and survived a battering for the next hour before somehow drawing level through Dickov and an Izzet wondergoal. With three minutes to go Peter canero (remember him?) burst clear on the Leeds goal, only to be denied by an incredible Paul Robinson save. Immediately afterwards, Leeds broke away to snatch a winner and break City hearts. The next three games were also lost and our hopes of top flight survival lay in ruins (though at least Leeds went down with us! )

7) Leicester 0 Brighton 1 - August 2004 - One of the worst City games ever witnessed, with the Sky cameras present to record every gruseome detail. Not only did the defeat and the manner of it confirm many fans' view that Micky Adams had passed his sell-by date, it would set an all-too-familiar pattern that would be repeated all too frequently for the rest of the season, as well as the following three.

8) Chelsea 4 Leicester 3 - October 2007 - The most high-profile of several recent Cup trips to West London, in which City have generally outplayed our hosts, only to fall victim to last-gasp winners. No defeat was crueller than this one, in which a patched-up managerless side came within minutes of an unlikely victory only for Shevchenko and Lampard to deny us.

9) Leicester 1 Sheffield Wednesday 3 - April 2008 The horrors of the previous five seasons were encapsulated in this one fixture. We squandered an early lead, lost a key defender to a bad injury, wasted a potentially game-levelling spot-kick and then conceded a breakaway clincher. Forget Stoke, this was the match which really sealed our descent to the third tier.

10) Leicester City 2 Bristol Rovers 1 - November 2008 This game saw City rediscover the fighting spirit for which we were once noted. All too often, we've seen visiting sides defend 1-0 leads with ease - but not any more. Fryatt's two goals that afternoon helped to kickstart City's season, dispel doubts about him and his manager, and restore the Way as the fortress that it was in our first year there.