It began, as these FA Cup contests between the elite and the lower orders tend to do, with the hope of a shock. It ended with Peterborough overwhelmed by both the occasion and by Leicester’s ruthless second string, who scored five and could have scored five more. The last time Peterborough defeated a team from the top tier in the FA Cup, Derek Dougan scored to beat Billy Wright’s Arsenal 53 years ago this week. This time around, the League One side had ejected Aston Villa at Villa Park, they had 24-goal Jack Marriott, who is attracting admiring glances from teams above his lowly station, and they kicked off with the sense that while automatic promotion is slipping away, there was still glory to be tussled for as manager Grant McCann took charge for the 100th time. But the underdogs were drowning rather than waving after just nine minutes.
Leicester packed the bench with insurance policies, including Jamie Vardy, whose move from Fleetwood Town to Peterborough was usurped by Leicester in 2012. Only Harry Maguire remained of those who started against Watford last week. So the visitors began with a combination of the forgotten, the young and debutant Fousseni Diabate, plucked from Gazelec Ajaccio, the Corsican minnows of France’s Ligue 2 earlier this month.
The uncapped Malian made a near-instant impact as a Peterborough throw-in went astray. Diabate picked up Adrien Silva’s pass, wriggled past two penalty-fearing challenges and deftly flicked the ball around Jonathan Bond. “I’ve been following him for some time. He has many qualities which mean we will hopefully be able to give him some Premier League time,” said manager Claude Puel.
Peterborough kept the deficit to one for just three minutes and the ghosts of ’65 remained undisturbed. Chris Forrester’s back pass was sloppy, finding only Kelechi Iheanacho. The Nigerian’s £25m move from Manchester City has been so disastrous that he has not started a Premier League game since October and has yet to score a league goal, but he offered a reminder of what ought to have been as he drilled the ball past Bond in style. “Ach, it was over by then,” sighed McCann. “You can’t legislate for individual mistakes. I just wanted to cover my head with a blanket. When we play in front of a big crowd here we tend not to perform in a manner that will get the crowd back. We had a good spell in the second half, but we played with fear in the first. Leicester thoroughly deserved to win. This is a real learning curve for myself and for my team.”
With one eye on a midweek trip to Everton, Leicester needed only to cruise gently into the fifth round, while Peterborough embarked upon a policy of damage limitation. After 29 minutes, there was more damage to limit. Christian Fuchs hurtled down the left and crossed deep. Iheanacho volleyed in at the back post with unrestrained glee and spent the rest of the tie seeking his first hat-trick since he put three since Aston Villa’s Brad Guzan in this stage of the 2016 FA Cup.
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Peterborough were outclassed in every area, but Puel had hit upon the perfect cup storm: replacing those crucial to the league campaign with a gaggle of players desperate to prove themselves worthy of elevation. “We want to continue our cup journey,” he said. “A difficult match at a small ground was a good place for fresh players to respond. This was a good experience for those players.”
Danny Lloyd headed wide of an open goal just before the break but after it, with nothing to lose but more dignity, Peterborough rallied. Forrester’s distribution suggested his first-half howler was exception rather than rule and when Marcus Maddison secured a corner Steven Taylor, once a Premier League colossus at Newcastle, headed it down and full-back Andrew Hughes swept the ball in.
That woke up Leicester, who rampaged forwards at will as the hosts flagged. Bond saved smartly from the beautifully balanced Diabate, but they finally added a fourth when Demarai Gray ambled unchallenged through the defence and shot low. Bond saved but Diabate tapped in the rebound.
There was still time for one last twist of the knife as the unmarked Wilfred Ndidi, 10 yards out, thumped the ball past Bond after an excellent Diabate pullback. The visiting support sang of Wembley; in contrast the home fans had next Saturday’s visit of Southend United to contemplate. Such is the debris of broken dreams.
£4m new-boy quick to make his mark
Fousseni Diabate did not take long to make an impression at Leicester City — nine minutes, in fact. The 22-year-old Mali Under-23 international forward only signed for the Premier League side on January 14, for£4m on a four-and-a-half-year deal. Like Riyad Mahrez and Anthony Knockaert before him, he arrived from a club in France’s Ligue 2, Gazelec Ajaccio. The speedy frontman went straight into Leicester’s Under-21 side for their 4-2 Checkatrade Trophy defeat at Oldham three days after signing before scoring a brace on his first-team debut yesterday.
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Star man: Fousseni Diabate (Leicester City)
