Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Leicester City: Stephy Mavididi nets winner for relegated Foxes

Stephy Mavididi gave League One-bound Leicester something to cheer about at the end of a miserable campaign as his late goal secured a 1-0 win at Blackburn.

Ten years to the day after the Foxes were crowned Premier League champions, Mavididi's 78th-minute strike saw Leicester pick up just their second win in the last 21 games of a dismal season which has seen them drop into the third tier for only the second time in their 142-year history.

Blackburn had only ensured their own safety with a win at Sheffield United last time out and could not follow it up as they passed up several excellent chances early in the second half.

But this was only their fifth defeat in 15 games under Michael O'Neill and fans remain keen for the 56-year-old to stay on next season if a deal can be reached with the Irish Football Association to prise him out of his role as Northern Ireland boss.

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Eight of Leicester's starting XI played for the club in the Premier League, but they were firmly on the backfoot until producing the first real chance for either side midway through the first half.

When Blackburn could only half clear a corner Harry Winks sent the ball to the back post for Harry Souttar, but Balazs Toth was down smartly to keep out his header.

Leicester suddenly had a head of steam. Toth palmed away Mavididi's shot and from the resulting corner there was a goalmouth scramble in which Blackburn somehow repelled efforts from both Jannik Vestergaard and Hamza Choudhury before 16-year-old Jeremy Monga fired wide.

Another teenager, 17-year-old Louis Page, had the next sight of goal but was denied by Toth.

Blackburn belatedly had their first effort on goal in the 37th minute when Moussa Baradji cut in from the left and hit a low drive which Jakub Stolarczyk pushed to safety.

The hosts should have led seconds into the second half as they had two glorious chances. First Ryan Alebiosu picked out Baradji, who had time to take a touch before somehow putting it wide of the right-hand post.

Moments later, Ryoya Morishita won the ball back and laid it off for top-scorer Yuki Ohashi, who poked wide of the opposite post from almost the same spot.

With half-time substitutes Todd Cantwell and Taylor Gardner-Hickman adding impetus, Blackburn kept pushing, but Ohashi headed over from a corner before Stolarczyk repelled a driving shot from Alebiosu and Cantwell hit a volley wide. Gardner-Hickman then curled a fine effort just over.

At the other end another substitute was desperately close as Jordan Ayew cut in from the right and hit a low shot which Toth did well to push wide.

Moments later, the 2,000 travelling fans could celebrate as Mavididi thumped in at the second attempt, with the ball sitting up nicely after his first shot was blocked.

Vestergaard tested Toth again with a late free-kick, but there were few celebrations from Leicester players at the final whistle.

The managers

Blackburn's Michael O'Neill:

"I said to the players to finish the season well, to do everything to win the game and we haven't managed to do that.

I think we let ourselves down a little bit with the first-half performance, but there were positives to take certainly in the second half.

"I'm just pleased the club got away from the situation that it was in. I don't really look at these things relating to me. I've been brought in to do this job. It was challenging.

"There's no doubt we had a lot of challenges in the group, a lot of injuries and times when the squad was really stressed.

"But I found a club where people stuck together. There's a lot of really good people in the group. A lot of people clearly love the club and wanted to progress and that's very, very evident to me."

On his future:

"They've made me and my family feel extremely welcome."

"My wife, my daughters love coming here to the games, so it's been a real positive experience. It has been draining at times. I'm not going to lie.

"When you're in that bottom situation, every manager will tell you that…you're just trying to get your team to a position of safety and obviously it took us to the 45th game, but thankfully we managed to do that."

Leicester's Gary Rowett:

"I'm like any manager, I see a fantastic opportunity here.

"I think there's going to be some big decisions and it's going to need someone, in my opinion, brave enough to make those decisions.

"The team needs to look very different. The culture needs to look very different. But it's a great opportunity so of course I'd like that opportunity. I think what's more important is less about me and more about the club getting it right because it's a fabulous football club.

"I've enjoyed the 14 games. It's been tinged with frustration and disappointment that we've actually played well in a lot of those games, lost four, shouldn't have lost that, should have won a lot more, but it's easy to say that.

"Of course I'd like the opportunity to rebuild this and I think I could be exactly what the club needs.

"I've not heard any of the players saying, 'It's all the club's fault for the points.'

"I think they accepted it…I don't think we can define our season on that.

"I think we should definitely have had more about us as a team to stay up by a lot more than that margin anyway."

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