Sunderland fall to Foxes

Akinbiyi has finally ended his goal drought

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Leicester 1-0 Sunderland

Ade Akinbiyi's first Premiership goal in 15 matches gave Leicester a much-needed victory over Sunderland at Filbert Street.

The Foxes showed a good deal of spirit as they secured their first win under new manager Dave Bassett to move out of the Premiership's bottom three.

I'm delighted for Ade - he's worked hard and he deserves it

Dave Bassett

Sunderland have now lost on their last four trips to Leicester.

Akinbiyi was roundly booed by his own fans at Liverpool last week, but his 61st-minute winner will have gone some way to winning them round.

He needed two attempts to score after first swinging and missing at Matt Elliot's cross.

Wild celebrations

But when he did tuck the ball into the corner, his relief, which was also felt around the ground, was obvious.

He peeled off his top and was chased by a number of team-mates as though he had scored the winner in the FA Cup final.

Leicester will also be delighted at achieving only their fourth clean sheet of the season.

Izzet is challenged by Gray

Their goals-against tally of 23 is one of the major reasons they are at the wrong end of the Premiership.

Defensively, the Foxes looked reasonably solid, but were not really tested by a Sunderland side initially missing the presence of Niall Quinn.

The tall centre-forward was on the bench, and the Wearsiders' reliance on Kevin Phillips was more evident as a result.

But Phillips was misfiring, screwing one effort across the face of the goal and then failing to turn Michael Gray's low centre goalwards early on.

Resolute defending

Quinn's introduction mid-way through the second half was not that effective as Sunderland looked anxious in their efforts to equalise.

With both sides guilty of some woeful finishing, the game was never likely to be high-scoring.

As early as the fourth minute, Trevor Benjamin robbed Stanislav Varga on the edge of the box, but a poor touch allowed Sorensen to save at his feet.

He should have done better.

Sunderland applied the pressure as they tried to salvage something from the game, but some resolute defending from Matt Elliott in particular kept them at bay.

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Leicester: Walker, Marshall, Elliott, Sinclair, Davidson, Savage, Wise, Izzet, Impey, Akinbiyi, Benjamin. Subs: Royce, Scowcroft, Oakes, Heath, Piper.

Sunderland: Sorensen, Craddock, Varga, Thome, Haas, Gray, McAteer, Schwarz, McCann, Arca, Phillips. Subs: Macho, Quinn, Bellion, McCartney, Williams.

Referee: Steve Dunn.