Matchday Memories: On This Day 2010 – Foxes Fight Hard To Share Sky Blue Spoils

Lee Carsley & Aidy in their Sky Blue days

On this day (11th September) in 2010 Sky Blue ‘gaffer’ Aidy Boothroyd led his team into their third home match of their tenth consecutive Championship season against Leicester City as yet with a 100% record at the Ricoh. Both Pompey in the season’s opener and Derby County‘s Rams had been vanquished in Coventry so far.   However, last time out the Sky Blues had yet to win on their travels having been beaten 3-1 at Millwall‘s New Den as well as gaining a 2-2 league draw at Watford in mid August and losing at Morecambe in the League Cup.

Danny Ward in Sky Blue action

There was a decent crowd of 20,060 at the Ricoh today (including a massive 3,885 fans from Leicester) to see the Sky Blues keep their unbeaten home run going but they had to settle for a 1-1 draw with the Foxes to keep them in the top half of the table. Aidy gave a debut to Danny Ward, on loan from Bolton Wanderers, the first of his five Sky Blue appearances.

Clive Platt
in the Sky Blue

The Sky Blues scored first, with six minutes left of the first half, thanks to our lanky striker (and fairly recent CCFPA recruit) Clive Platt. His goal was negated, however, a quarter of an hour from the final whistle when the Foxes’ Andy King netted to grab a point

Aidy’s CCFC team lined up as follows (subs in brackets and CCFPA members underlined):-

Keiren Westwood, Richard Keogh, Jordan Clarke, Richard Wood, Ben Turner, Lee Carsley, Danny Ward (Aron Gunnarsson -67), Sammy Clingan, Clive Platt, Lukas Jutkiewicz (Michael Doyle -77) and Gary McSheffrey  (Michael McIndoe -36)

Unused subs: Nathan Cameron, Roy O’Donovan, Luke Bottomer and Danny Ireland (gk)

Clive heads for goal

Franck in the Sky Blue

Paolo Sousa‘s Foxes put out the following team:-

Carl Ikeme, Robbie Nelson, Michael Morrison, Matt Oakley, Andy King, Lloyd Dyer (Danny N’Guessen -80), Matt Fryatt (Steve Howard -80), Martyn Waghorn (Paul Gallagher -73),  Bruno Berner, Richie Wellens and Jack Hobbs  Unused subs: Joao Moreno, Tom Kennedy, Franck Moussa and Conrad Logan (gk)  Referee: A. Taylor

An unused substitute on the Leicester bench later became a Sky Blue who was renowned for spectacular goals (and also became a CCFPA member, Franck Moussa. In the team was also a Sky Blue recruit from the 2021-22 season to the summer before last, striker Martyn Waghorn.

CCFC gaffer- Andy Thorn,

Marlon in the Sky Blue

In the Championship, having been briefly top of the table after their third game at the end of August and sixth by mid November, the performances of the team that Aidy built gradually but substantially deteriorated from December onwards. From the New Year a league run of only one win in twelve did for Aidy and he was replaced by Chief Scout (and later Association member) Andy Thorn in March as (initially) caretaker ‘gaffer’ to the end of the season.

In February the two teams met again in the return in Leicester with exactly the same drawn outcome, a goal apiece. A fourteenth minute opener from Marlon King gave the Sky Blues an advantage but the home team saved the game just before half time from their loanee Kyle Naughton.

CCFC 2010-11

The team ended up their 2010-11 season safe in a lowly eighteenth spot. The Foxes finished in tenth spot. City were a full thirteen points clear of the relegated trio, Preston North End, Sheffield United and (bottom) Scunthorpe United.

Queens Park Rangers (Champions) and Norwich City got the automatic promotion spots and were Premier League bound along with play-off victors, third placed Swansea City.

Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young (& Dean Nelson) for sourcing the images.