Nugent influence the key -- Pearson
norwich 1 leicester city 2
Striker David Nugent, the man with one England cap to his name, slotted home the winner to take Leicester into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in a stirring encounter with Norwich at Carrow Road.
Leicester manager Nigel Pearson hailed the performance of the 26-year-old. "Nugent is so confident. He plays with a smile on his face. He is a very positive influence and his work rate is exceptional. He is a very popular player in the team and today he showed the quality he has got," said Pearson.
"We played with a lot of discipline and desire and didn't make a lot of mistakes."
Sean St Ledger put Leicester in front in the first half, but Norwich captain Wes Hoolahan equalised when he stabbed home the rebound after Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel had saved his spot-kick.
Leicester took the game to Norwich in the first half and grabbed a shock lead with five minutes played, after a series of three corners whipped in by Ben Marshall.
The first two were scrambled away by the Norwich defence but the third was met crisply by the head of St Ledger, who guided the ball past Jed Steer.
Pearson was more than satisfied with his team's performance. "We created chances and when we had to defend we did so with a lot of spirit," he said.
"Jermaine Beckford caused them all sorts of problems and today we were better than them. We played some good football. We wanted to play positive football."
Norwich manager Paul Lambert had no complaints with the result. "Leicester deserved to go through. We never performed," he said.
- Frank Malley
