Leicester City 2-1 West Brom: Abdul Fatawu earns Foxes last-gasp win over Baggies

Abdul Fatawu scored deep into stoppage time to earn Leicester City a much-needed 2-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion in front of thousands of empty seats at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester fans had urged a boycott of the club’s first home game of the year due to their anger over the running of the club and there were plenty of empty areas in the home end.

But Foxes boss Marti Cifuentes said: “I am always grateful when they (the fans) show this level of togetherness and support with the players and they are right to show whether they are angry or not.

“Today at the end, everybody responded well. Understand on a Monday, cold, late, far from a great performance, but got the win.”

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Punished

The hosts still opened the scoring through Jordan Ayew’s fifth goal of the season, but were unable to see the lead through to half-time as Karlan Grant equalised with his third of the campaign.

Leicester survived a Baggies barrage in the second period and were indebted to a string of second-half saves by Jakub Stolarczyk as well as the upright which denied Isaac Price.

West Brom have a history of conceding late and they were punished once again with minutes remaining when Fatawu fired home a volley home to snatch all three points.

The last-gasp loss saw the Baggies extend their run of defeats on the road to 10 matches as Leicester earned back-to-back wins at home to move into the top half of the Championship table.

Match action

The lack of fans inside the stadium did not seem to hamper the hosts as they cashed in on a good start by hitting the front in the 19th minute.

Some neat build-up play ended with Bobby De Cordova-Reid unlocking the back line with a through-ball to Jordan James, who played it across for Ayew, who knocked it into an empty net.

Albion’s best moment arrived on the half-hour mark when Stolarczyk misjudged a cross and punched the ball straight to Mikey Johnston, who saw a goalbound header cleared off the line by Ricardo Pereira.

But they were not to be denied moments later.

Alex Mowatt played a ball into the path of Grant and the Albion forward was able to take his time and expertly dispatch a finish past the onrushing Stolarczyk and into the bottom right corner.

The goal completely shifted the momentum of the contest and West Brom were unlucky not to go in front.

Mowatt, pulling the strings in the middle of the pitch, sent a cross to the back post where George Campbell fired his effort across goal and narrowly wide from a tight angle.

Second half

Price shot against a post eight minutes into the second half before Stolarczyk got down low to stop Aune Heggebo’s effort from close range.

Leicester could do nothing to stop wave after wave of Albion attacks. Johnston was next to spring the offside trap but saw his tame shot stopped by Stolarczyk again.

Stolarczyk was in inspired form as he frustrated the away side further to palm away Campbell’s header with 10 minutes to go.

And Leicester punished West Brom for those missed chances when Fatawu met Stephy Mavididi’s cross and fired a volley into the top corner.

Togetherness

After the game, Cifuentes admitted his side were not at their best but hailed the “fight and togetherness”.

He said: “We finished the first half with less control, and in the second, it was getting worse through the minutes.

“It was difficult, but the team stuck together and showed togetherness and personality to block some shots, saves from Jakub and then the last 10-15 minutes we regained control and was a great goal from Abdul.

“Overall, it wasn’t a great game, but we need to keep improving. At the same time, there are things we need to value. We showed fight and togetherness.”

Cifuentes confirmed Michail Antonio was no longer training at the club due to a muscular injury.

He added: “Unfortunately, he got a small setback training with us and we will not proceed with the process we started.

“It’s a pity because he’s a great professional, guy and showed good things.”

Frustrations

Some West Brom fans reacted angrily at the final whistle, with calls for boss Ryan Mason to leave the club after a 13th league defeat of the season.

Mason said: “If you’ve not been able to watch West Brom this season, then that 90 minutes sums up our season.

“Created more chances than the opposition, more pretty much everything, but for some reason we have an incredible ability to lose games we shouldn’t.

“I thought the fans were incredible and amazing. We’ve lost the game, so there are frustrations, and I accept that.

“They were with the team for 94 minutes and devastated they are going home with nothing.”

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