Leeds United 1 Leicester City 2: Eriksson returns to pile the pressure on Leeds

THE inconsistency that has dogged Leeds United all season continued last night as goals from Kyle Naughton and Steve Howard gave Sven Goran Eriksson his first win as Leicester City manager.

A late consolation from Luciano Becchio made the cool Swede sweat a little more than he needed to but it was a thoroughly merited victory for the visitors as Leeds failed to build on their excellent win over Middlesbrough at the weekend.

The result also provided Eriksson with a modicum of revenge over Leeds that has been brewing for nearly a decade.

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David O'Leary's team beat the Swede's Lazio at the Stadio Olympico in a Champions League match in December 2000 which hastened Eriksson's departure from Rome and his arrival in London to take up the post of England manager.

Hull City were the party-poopers on Eriksson's debut last Saturday, tempering expectations at the Walkers Stadium with a doughty 1-1 draw.

But the Foxes played with a point to prove to their manager last night as they attempted to climb away from the bottom three.

Leeds, on the other hand, continue to be under the spell of inconsistency with this their third defeat in four games.

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Simon Grayson had kept the faith with the starting XI who beat Boro. Amdy Faye and Sanchez Watt were deemed fit to figure after missing training on Monday, while George McCartney started at left-back after overcoming a virus.

But Grayson was soon changing the team as Leeds, playing their first home game since the collapse against Preston three weeks ago, were in danger of being over-run again.

Hesitant defending allowed Leicester to lay seige on Jason Brown's goal. Twice Andy King peeled off Richard Naylor and Paul Connolly to get one-on-one, with Brown coming to Leeds's rescue the first time and then Martyn Waghorn guilty of wastefulness moments later when he lashed King's cutback over the bar.

Paul Gallagher should have done better with a volley that he skied over the bar and Brown was handily placed on the two occassions Franck Moussa got shots on target.

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But the closest Eriksson's men came to taking a deserved lead came when Bruno Berner robbed Robert Snodgrass and thundered a shot against the underside of the cross bar.

Grayson was prompted into a change on 30 minutes, withdrawing Watt for Bradley Johnson in an attempt to stop Richie Wellens dictating the game.

Johnson was immediately into the action as an attacking threat however, dashing forward to meet McCartney's cross with a header that he failed to divert goalwards and then again before the break when Becchio controlled a long throw and fed Johnson, who blazed over.

Chris Weale was hardly troubled in the Leicester goal, but it was a flicker of life from the home side. That flicker took a while to burst into a flame in the second half as the home contingent among the 22,775 inside a chilly Elland Road attempted to lift them.

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Becchio got the crowd to their feet with a glancing header wide, but it was the same old story at the back as both King and Waghorn were afforded time and space to attempt deft lobs which were narrowly off target.

And that renewed enthusiasm was finally extinguished on 63 minutes when former Sheffield United right-back Naughton weaved his way inside Snodgrass and David Somma to tee up a 10-yard shot that looped into the net off Collins.

Leicester's second goal on 81 minutes had an air of inevitability to it. Leeds, in the quest to level, were guilty of repeatedly giving the ball away, allowing Leicester to attack on the counter.

That was the case with nine minutes to go as King created a two-on-two situation before playing in Howard who bent the ball low around Brown.

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It did at least elicit a response from United as Gradel's deep cross found Becchio who towered above Curtis Davies to head home his fifth league goal of the season. But despite four minutes of stoppage time, Leeds could not force an equaliser.

Leeds United: Brown; Connolly, Naylor, Collins, McCartney; Snodgrass (Gradel 70), Howson, Faye (Kilkenny 70), Watt (Johnson 30); Becchio, Somma. Unused substitutes: Alnwick, Bruce, Hughes, Nunez.

Leicester City: Weale; Naughton, Hobbs, Davies, Berner; Gallagher (Abe 60), Oakley, Wellens, Moussa (Howard 77); Waghorn, King. Unused substitutes: Logan, Neilson, Morrison, Teixeira, Kennedy.

Referee: D Whitestone (Northamptonshire).