Leicester City on Sunday launched their quest for an immediate return to the English Premier League with a 2-1 win at home to crisis club Sheffield Wednesday after the visitors’ supporters protested against Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri.
Wednesday are under several English Football League embargoes for a range of financial breaches, with payments of wages to players and staff delayed for the past three months.
Owls fans made their feelings toward Thai businessman Chansiri clear by delaying their entry to their seats and the away end was empty as the players came onto the pitch at the King Power Stadium, with a banner that read: “SWFC for sale — enough is enough.”
Photo: Reuters
Wednesday had just 15 senior players on the books ahead of their opening match of the Championship season, but still managed a gritty display against the Foxes, who needed a late winner to secure all three points after their opponents were reduced to 10 men.
“With all they have been through the last weeks, to deliver such a great performance today, I’m so proud of the boys,” Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen told Sky Sports. “We played with a big confidence in the beginning. We were really well-prepared. It’s very frustrating [to lose] by conceding two set-piece goals, because, of course, they created chances after we were one man down, but the performance from the boys was fantastic today.”
Following the opening five minutes, Wednesday fans made their way into the ground and were greeted with applause from Leicester supporters.
Despite all their off-field problems, Nathaniel Chalobah gave Wednesday the lead midway through the first half with a deflected shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Jannik Vestergaard equalized in the 54th minute when a free-kick from Bilal El Khannouss evaded everyone else inside the penalty area before he shot high into the net.
Wednesday’s task became that much harder when captain Barry Bannan, already booked for dissent, saw red for a late challenge on Harry Winks with 14 minutes to play.
With just three minutes remaining, Leicester made their man advantage count when substitute Wout Faes headed in from a corner.
“The second half was stronger than the first one,” said Leicester head coach Marti Cifuentes, who is looking to guide the Foxes back to the top flight at the first attempt following last season’s relegation. “We knew this would be a tough game. It showed the mental resilience in the players that we want to push in the games.”
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