West Ham v Leicester 19/10/96 3.00West Ham (0) 1 Leicester (0) 0 FT Moncur 78 West Ham grabbed the points but it was a hard battle to break down brave Leicester, who could have snatched a draw even in injury time. The match ended in controversy when Leicester skipper Steve Walsh was sent off after a challenge on Ludek Miklosko which left the West Ham keeper stretched out on the pitch. Walsh, who had already been booked for a deliberate hand-ball, was sent off by Leeds referee Mike Riley. Leicester manager Martin O'Neill strode onto the pitch when the match was over and appeared to give Riley a piece of his mind. The breakthrough came 13 minutes from time when West Ham's leading scorer Michael Hughes picked out on-loan Portuguese star Hugo Porfirio on the edge of the Leicester area. Porfirio took the ball on then squared inside for John Moncur to strike home from 10 yards. It was tough on Kasey Keller, Leicester's American goalkeeper, who made some inspirational saves to keep the visitors in the hunt. In the first-half he saved well from Moncur after 21 minutes as West Ham virtually laid seige to the Leicester goal. Then after 51 minutes, Keller did well to scramble low at his right post when a Julian Dicks free kick took a nasty deflection, and a minute later he was back in action to stop a volley from Marc Rieper. But Miklosko also performed heroics in the second-half, tipping over a deflected drive from Mike Whitlow after 56 minutes then diving to his left to deny Emile Heskey after Ian Marshall put him through on the hour. Leicester kept trying to level matters after the West Ham goal, and Rieper had to hook clear from the line in injury time. In addition to sending off Walsh, referee Riley booked three players from each side. 
West Ham: Miklosko, Dicks, Bishop, Rieper, Raducioiu (Lazarides, 68), Porfirio, Dowie, Moncur, Bowen (Breacker, 75), Hughes, Bilic. Subs not used: Dumitrescu, Lampard, Shilton. Booked: Dicks, Porfirio, Bilic. Leicester: Keller, Grayson, Whitlow, Watts, Walsh, Izzet, Lennon, Taylor (Parker, 82), Heskey, Prior, Marshall (Claridge, 67). Subs not used: Poole, Hill, Lawrence. Booked: Walsh, Lennon, Whitlow, Heskey. Attendance: 22,285. Referee: M Riley (Leeds). |
