Lloyd Dyer's goal crowns Leicester as champions at Bolton
Leicester clinched the Sky Bet Championship
title at the Reebok Stadium with Lloyd Dyer coming off the bench to net a
fabulous winner in a 1-0 victory over Bolton.
The Foxes, who have
maintained their position at the division's summit since before
Christmas, were promoted earlier this month and, despite a heavy loss to
Brighton, they immediately set their sights on securing silverware.
Second-placed Burnley's win on Easter Monday, which saw the Clarets
grab the other automatic promotion spot, meant Nigel Pearson's men
needed three points against Wanderers to wrap up the title.
And after dominating large spells of the contest against a team with
little to play for, Dyer arrived from the bench to rifle home a fine
strike just after the hour.
With Bolton safely tucked in the middle of the division's pack, it
gave boss Dougie Freedman a perfect opportunity to experiment with his
team.
Teenage defender Hayden White was given a full debut in a five-man
defence while the bench was largely filled with players yet to feature
for Wanderers' first team. White, 19, was certainly given a tough
examination early on as Foxes winger Riyad Mahrez enjoyed oceans of
space on the left flank.
Andy King had a shot deflected off target while Anthony Knockaert
also fired wide after a one-two sent Mahrez to the byline. The Frenchman
then drifted inside and unleashed a swerving shot which Bolton
goalkeeper Adam Bodgan just about shovelled wide.
At the other end a wonderful reverse pass from captain Jay Spearing
gave Lukas Jutkiewicz the chance to shoot, yet the on-loan forward
elected to pull the trigger when off balance and made a mess of the
attempt.
For the remainder of the half it continued to be one-way traffic down
Leicester's left with David Nugent unable to get great purchase on
Mahrez's cross before the visitors' dangerman twice cut inside and
skewed efforts off target.
It had seemed a matter of when, rather than if, the league leaders
would score and they very nearly got a helping hand when Zat Knight,
under no duress, headed inches over his own crossbar.
Freedman had seen enough of Mahrez's marauding runs as he hauled
White off for ex-Leicester striker Jermaine Beckford at the break and
reverted to a more accustomed back four.
That did not stop the wave of Foxes attacks, though, as Knockaert's
rasping drive was pushed behind by Bogdan. Nigel Pearson brought Mahrez
off 10 minutes after the interval while Andy King was also sacrificed in
a double switch for Dyer and Chris Wood.
Bolton were now built to counter and the energetic Lee Chung-yong
scampered away down the left before picking out Jutkiewicz to steer wide
of the mark. The 25-year-old would come closer still after running half
the length of the pitch and clipping a shot just beyond Kasper
Schmeichel's far post.
It would prove to be a particularly costly miss as, just 36 seconds
later, Leicester went ahead. Dyer cut in from the left flank and smashed
a right-footed drive which soared into the top corner.
The hosts looked to hit back immediately and ex-Leicester striker
Beckford had more time than he realised when lashing a half volley into
the crowd. On that occasion the ball had fallen kindly for the Wanderers
substitute and Jutkiewicz too benefited from some fortune with
Schmeichel able to claw his low poke away.
Still Freedman's side looked to strike on the break with Beckford
sauntering through only to prod a tame effort at Leicester's Danish
stopper.
Freedman introduced debutants Andrew Kellett and Chris Lester to
proceedings and aside from a Wood strike which Bogdan kept out, the
contest would peter out before the final whistle blew and the champions
banners were brought out.
source: http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/292849/report
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