West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Leicester City: Enzo Maresca’s Foxes leave it late to win at The Hawthorns

Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca made a winning return to The Hawthorns as the Foxes left it late to beat his old club West Bromwich Albion.

Josh Maja’s 89th-minute scrambled equaliser looked to have earned the hosts a point – his first goal for the Baggies.

But, with Albion chasing a winner, four minutes into added time, Dewsbury-Hall raced clear down the inside-left channel on a counter-attack before squaring for Harry Winks to slide home just inside the right post, securing a welcome victory after a run of just one win in four games.

It stretched Leicester’s lead on top of the Championship to four points over second-placed Ipswich, ahead of the rest of the afternoon’s fixtures.

Carlos Corberan’s Baggies had won five of their previous six games but for much of this game they were overpowered by the Foxes’ overall superiority.

Jamie Vardy, who had scored six times in five previous visits to The Hawthorns, was left on the bench as an unused substitute along with the likes of Conor Coady and Harry Souttar as the Foxes showed the true strength of their title-chasing squad.

Maresca’s promising 17 months as a young Albion player ended happily for the Baggies when they banked £4m from his surprise sale to Juventus in January 2000, at a time when the club badly needed the money.

The Italian’s first return to The Hawthorns as a manager almost 24 years on coincided with another worrying time on the financial front for the Baggies, who are up for sale and this week announced that they had taken on an extra loan.

But the Baggies have remained remarkably competitive under boss Corberan and gave the Foxes a very good game.

They were close to breaking the deadlock when Cedric Kipre’s unwitting effort off his outstretched left leg from a corner cannoned back off the left upright.

But Leicester also hit the woodwork when Stephy Mavididi’s powerfully struck effort deflected off Darnell Furlong, hit the post and went out for a corner.

Ndidi was then denied from a tight angle by Albion keeper Alex Palmer before Dewsbury-Hall, a late two-goal matchwinner against Coventry City on the opening weekend of the season, again showed his scorn for Midlands opposition when he timed his run to meet Ndidi’s cross and power home a closer-range header.

Substitute Maja lifted the Baggies when he levelled, just 14 minutes after coming on, only for that to be snuffed out by the Leicester breakaway winner.

Who’s next?

West Brom face another Saturday lunchtime fixture next weekend when they go to former Baggies boss Tony Mowbray’s Sunderland (12:30 GMT).

Leicester are back in action later that afternoon (15:00 GMT) when they host lowly Plymouth Argyle.

West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan told BBC Radio WM:

“I am pleased when I see the team trying to win the game.

“But we need to made a better decision in the situation.

“We had two players who could not play, Kyle Bartley and Jed Wallace.

“We do not know how long Wallace will be out. Bartley was feeling his hamstring.”

Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca told BBC Radio Leicester:

“We completely deserved to win the game – and we did it in the best way.

“Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is improving in the right way in the last third. We needed him to be more clinical in terms of assists and goals.

“It is a huge win. We are trying to build something here, not just on the pitch, but off it too.

“The way the players celebrated with the fans showed that. My reaction needs to be a little bit more composed but I was happy.”

Adblock test (Why?)

Read Original Article