AdminLeicester City’s relegation fears deepened after a narrow 1-0 defeat to Swansea at the King Power Stadium, a result decided by a moment of quality from the Championship’s leading scorer, Zan Vipotnik.
The decisive goal arrived six minutes into the second half, when Vipotnik finished emphatically via the underside of the crossbar after Eom Ji-Sung surged from deep inside his own half to the edge of the Leicester area on a devastating counter-attack.
The defeat was compounded by results elsewhere, with wins for relegation rivals Portsmouth and Oxford pushing the Foxes further into trouble. With just four games remaining, Leicester now find themselves second-bottom and slipping further adrift of safety.
Leicester boss Gary Rowett was left frustrated by another costly defensive lapse, describing it as a familiar and damaging theme in his side’s season.
He said: “We started OK and created some good moments without really getting into top gear and hurting the opposition as much as we’d like.
“We just give a stupid goal away. I don’t know how many times I’ve said it. It’s an absolutely ridiculous goal to give away, maybe we have to just go back to basics.
“To give a goal away of that sort is not only hugely frustrating, but when you’ve done it so many times it’s heartbreaking to see because it puts everything you’ve worked on out of the window.
“We didn’t react well enough after that. Our reaction after the goal was not what you would expect when you’re fighting for your lives down the bottom end of the table.
“We’ve struggled over a long period this season to do the basics well. The next game is going to define a lot. We’ve got to show more fight and show a little bit more desperation.”
Swansea, meanwhile, ended a four-game winless run thanks to Vipotnik’s 21st goal of the season, strengthening his grip on the race for the Championship Golden Boot.
Swans head coach Vitor Matos praised both the striker’s influence and his squad’s growing maturity.
He said: “It’s more important to think about the performance and to keep improving and keep growing, the mentality was there and the consistency and maturity.
“I’m really happy with the character of the team. The hunger is there and the desire is there. When you have that, independent of the result, that’s the most important thing to build from.
“He (Vipotnik) is an important player, he’s more than scoring goals, he helps the team in a lot of departments. He understands the importance that he has in terms of the collective.
“We’re just happy that he keeps scoring, we care a lot about him, we renewed his contract, we take care of him and his family and show how much we can help him to develop. He understands how important he is for the team.
“The (transfer) market is always interesting, you never know what’s going to happen in football but he knows how much we want him and he knows he has a place in everyone’s hearts.”
Admin
