Leicester City’s survival hopes suffered a further setback after they failed to find a way past ten-man Hull City following Tom Huddlestone’s second-half dismissal.
Nigel Pearson’s team remain bottom of the Barclays Premier League and seven points adrift of safety and this will go down as another missed opportunity as the games begin to run out for the midlands club.
They have now secured just two points from their last seven league matches - relegation form, by any standard - and the boos of frustration at the final whistle from the home hordes suggested hope of a great escape is beginning to recede.
Huddlestone’s dismissal in the 72nd minute was the most noteworthy incident in a forgettable contest which provided a telling insight into why both of these sides have found themselves languishing in the lower reaches of the table this term.
For the away side, at least, it was another point closer to safety - yet, having signed a new three-year deal this week, Steve Bruce, the manager, will know there is much work to be done.
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Pearson’s team had been in action just once in the space of three weeks ahead of this contest and there was a ring-rustiness about them in the early exchanges. Hull were far from fluent either but did carve a gilt-edged opportunity in the 20th minute.
Huddlestone’s deliciously floated ball dissected the opposition defence to find Ahmed Elmohamady on the right-side of the penalty area and his first-time pass left the unmarked Nikica Jelavic eight yards out with just Mark Schwarzer to beat. The former Everton forward was guilty of profligacy of the highest order, however, when he misjudged the flight of the ball allowing Mark Schwarzer, the Leicester goalkeeper, sufficient time to pounce on the loose ball.
Jelavic thought he had atoned seven minutes later when he rolled into an empty net when Schwarzer dropped Huddlestone’s high ball following a forceful aerial challenge from Dame N’Doye.
Bruce was incensed by the decision of Jonathan Moss, the referee, but it was the correct one.
There was an improvement, albeit marginal, from the home side after the interval, with a teasing inswinging delivery from the fleet-footed Riyad Mahrez - once again, Leicester’s chief threat - agonisingly beyond the reach of Andrej Kramaric. That, however, was as good as it got in the opening 45 minutes.
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The second half was an improvement as a spectacle, yet more for the game’s feistiness than its football.
Frustration began to fester as Michael Dawson and Alex Bruce took umbrage with cautions they received for challenges - even his father, the manager, received a talking-to from Moss - before, finally, boiling over with 18 minutes remaining.
Jamie Vardy, an increasing influence on the game, was clumsily poleaxed by Huddlestone as he charged towards the area and, already on a yellow for a challenge on Esteban Cambiasso, there was only one outcome.
In keeping with their campaign, Leicester simply lacked the wherewithal to unlock their opponents - David Nugent, a substitute, spurning the best of their openings when he stole in at the near post only to divert Vardy’s cross wide.
Hull could - and, perhaps, should - have pinched the points in the dying moments when a quickly-taken N’Doye free-kick sent Abel Hernandez clean through but his shot was too close to Schwarzer.