Pressure is on

[Parsons]

Beaten 4-1 at Sheffield United in their first outing of the season, Leicester City have to bounce back immediately in two home games this week.

City have no time to lick their wounds, even though they will feel hard done by after a controversial penalty swung the game away from them at Bramall Lane and two late lapses gave the scoreline a bizarre look.

Manager Craig Levein had been happy that the opening game was away, reckoning that put the pressure on the Blades.

But now that will be turned round with the pressure on City as the Blue Army look for some reward from the Walkers Stadium clashes with Stoke tomorrow and Ipswich on Saturday.

Levein was stunned in the immediate aftermath of the bizarre outcome on Saturday.

It was all the more disappointing because it was live on television and the early kick-off meant it was the first fixture of the whole season.

But he has not been knocked off-course in his hopes for the team and is confident the damage can be repaired against Stoke tomorrow.

He said: "A lot of things about the performance were good, although I have got to look at the things we can improve on - like what happened in the last 10 minutes. I did not look on Saturday as a yardstick for us. I was wary about it being a gauge for what is going to happen for the rest of the season.

"It was a new defence in front of a new goalkeeper and their concentration levels dropped.

"But, if we put on the same performance against Stoke, we should do well."

City are likely to line up along similar lines tomorrow night, not least because Levein was generally satisfied with the level of performance,

And he hopes his confidence in his charges will be reflected with the right result to go with the right display.

Striker David Connolly, who scored City's first goal of the season, will spearhead the pursuit of their first points of the season.

The new-look team were under the microscope against the Blades, but there was also pressure on Connolly to get among the goals again. He started slowly last season and did not really hit his stride until the second half of the campaign. So a goal in the first game is a good sign, especially as he did not play in most of the pre-season games.

Connolly said: "I am pleased to get the goal, of course. I wanted a solid 90 minutes and I am happy with that, but not with the result. We have two home games now and, if we can perform like that for 90 minutes, we will win more than we will lose.

"Their manager was saying it was the best team he has had. So for us to play so well against them shows there is reason for optimism."

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i dont know if it has all ready been posted, so i just decided to post it anyway