Football: SUPER DUB

FOXES boss Craig Levein was happy to overlook a blunder by Dion Dublin as his side won on their travels in the Championship for the first time in nearly a year.

The giant defender was guilty of daydreaming in the 49th minute when he allowed a long ball to drift over his head and open the door for Ashley Young to blast home the equaliser.

But 36-year-old veteran Dublin, who long ago played for England as a striker but is now serving out his time in defence, had already done enough in the game.

"Dion had been fantastic in the first half, but sometimes this game is just too easy for him and he is not going to change at 36," said Levein.

"He made a serious error but it should not detract from his performance. He was dominant."

The former Hearts boss was also so pleased with the manner of Leicester's first away victory since December that he thought it could herald a new dawn for the East Midlands club.

He said: "We are a better team than our league position indicates and hopefully we will now put a run together.

"We came to Watford, who were lying fifth in the League, and beat them because we were the better team."

Levein said he had spent the two-week international break closely studying his side's previous performances this season, and one of the errors he spotted proved crucial yesterday.

Levein noticed the Foxes were not direct enough in attack and ordered them to pass more quickly.

"It worked well. If we had worked their offside trap better we might have had three or four more opportunities to score," he said.

Leicester were well worth the 29th-minute lead they took when Dutchman Mark de Vries arrived at the far post to slide home Steve Hughes's headed flick-on.

They had already seen a freak bounce deny them an opening goal when Elvis Hammond's clever lob beat Ben Foster only to go over the bar.

Watford barely looked capable of replying before half-time and only had Dublin's lapse to thank for getting back on level terms.

But within 60 seconds Patrick Kisnorbo had covered up for Dublin's error by heading home Momo Sylla's corner to restore the visitors' lead.

And Leicester would not have been flattered had they scored again. De Vries shot into the side netting with the goal at his mercy and substitute Iain Hulme also hit the woodwork.

Watford boss Adrian Boothroyd had no doubt that his side deserved to lose the game. He said: "That's the worst we have played all season. But we are a side in transition and at the moment we are working on a lot of things."

Boothroyd admitted he could not believe the way Watford, who went into the game lying fifth in the Championship, allowed Leicester, sixth from bottom, to dictate the game.

Asked what bothered him most, he said: "The start, the middle and the end.

"We lacked our normal energy from the start. At times I thought I was at a testimonial match.

"Our performance was so low-key, which is not like us at all. But we are a developing team and we will have a few off-days before we get better."

Boothroyd had been expected to recall Darius Henderson after injury but instead decided to keep him for the midweek game against Sheffield Wednesday - and the absence of a big striker to take on Dublin in the air was very costly.

MAN OF THE MATCH

DION DUBLIN

Wily old fox took the sting out of the Hornets.

WATFORD: Foster 5, Chambers 4, Carlisle 6, Mackay 4, Stewart 4 (Doyley 5), Devlin 4 (Grant 5), Spring 5, Mahon 5, McNamee 6, King 5, Young 6.

LEICESTER: Douglas 5, Stearman 6, McCarthy 6, DUBLIN 8, Johansson 5, Sylla 7, Hughes 5 (Gudjonsson 5), Hamill 5, Kisnorbo 6, Hammond 5 (Hume 5), De Vries 6.

MANAGERS: Boothroyd 4; Levein 6

REFEREE: U Rennie 5

Copyright 2005 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.