Leicester City boss Marti Cifuentes was delighted with his side’s best performance of the season as they defeated the Blues 3-1 at the King Power Stadium, a result he described as a ‘huge win’.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid gave the Foxes, who are up to eighth, three points behind fifth-placed Town, the lead on eight, then just before the break, with the Blues beginning to put the home side under pressure, Abdul Fatawu scored an extraordinary effort from 15 yards inside his own half.
The game was all but sealed seven minutes after the restart, through Jordan Ayew before Town sub Jens Cajuste seized on a goalkeeping error to give the Blues hope but ultimately unfulfilled hope of a revival.
Town have still won only once at the King Power Stadium, a 2-1 success under Joe Royle on their first visit back on Boxing Day 2002, with today’s result extending their winless run to 12 matches.
"It’s a huge win, I’m very pleased for the players, very pleased for the fans, I hope they go home happy,” Cifuentes said.
"I think it’s an important step forward after a challenging week and I think we are finishing exactly the way we wanted to finish after the disappointment of Wednesday.
"Credit to the players, they responded really well. A very good performance and against a very good team as well, in form.”
Cifuentes, whose side allowed a 2-0 half-time lead to slip at Bristol City on Wednesday, the game ending 2-2, agreed that today’s display was his team’s best of the campaign so far.
"Definitely, we played against a very good team and I think the way we started the game, we’ve spoken about the importance of starting games at home on the front foot,” the Spaniard continued. "Sometimes it works but we’re always going to try.
"Today, I think it was a very important goal from Bobby, a great strike, a fantastic goal. I’m happy for him because he’s in very good form and showing how important he is for the team.
"Definitely I think the first half was very solid, very good. Out of possession, we only conceded one shot on goal in the first half.
"And then we were looking dangerous in the transitions, we were good in moving the ball and trying to create chances from there. Then the second goal is a brilliant moment from Abdul.
"We spoke at half-time about the importance of pushing to get the third one and today definitely the team did really well.
"So, I’m very pleased because we played against a good team, good manager, good players, and we managed to have a very strong performance.”
Cifuentes says he wasn’t entirely surprised by Fatawu’s goal: "The thing is, he tries it a lot in training and he likes to look for those situations. I think he tried it against Swansea as well, he tried a similar one.
"He can try everywhere, I can tell you, 11 v 11 or all by himself, a lot of situations that he likes to try. That’s the kid that is inside him and I love it. I don’t want to take that away from him.
"It’s a brilliant goal. We know how important Abdul is for us, how good he can be when it comes to the attacking phase, but at the same time he’s working really hard to grow in all phases of the game.
"It’s a pleasure to work with him because he pushes himself every day in training to be better. We enjoyed a very nice moment.”
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Having allowed a two-goal lead to slip at Ashton Gate, Cifuentes was asked whether he had given a different half-time team-talk today with the game in the same situation.
"Very similar to what we said on Wednesday,” he said. "First of all, that we had to chase the third one and second that it’s about being ourselves. Being us, the identity that we want to build.
"And the identity that we want to build is about commitment, teamwork, playing for the badge, playing for each other, but it’s as well about attacking, it’s as well about scoring the next goal.
"And in some moments of the game, sometimes you’re going to need to defend deep, as we did in the last minutes, sometimes you’re going to need to defend and put bodies there because it’s part of the game, it’s part of football.
"But the idea is always to try to control and that’s why I’m very happy about today but there’s still a lot to improve - the consistency from game to game, the consistency during games.
"I know that it’s not easy and I said from day one. I said it’s very difficult in any league in the world to be dominant for 95 minutes because there is a good manager on the other side, there is a good team, there are good players on the other side, so they’re going to have moments.
"But as long as we are committed, as long as we work together and then we try to keep that identity we’re trying to build, which is trying to attack, trying to attack with pace, trying to keep the ball when needed, trying to defend altogether when needed. When we do it together, then obviously it’s much easier.”