Leicester City 2-2 Hull City: FLW report as Foxes relegated despite entertaining draw v Tigers | OneFootball

FLW report from the King Power Stadium for this Championship fixture

Leicester City saw relegation to League One for the second time in club history confirmed despite a dramatic 2-2 draw with play-off chasing Hull City at the King Power Stadium.

Sergej Jakirovic's side were also desperate to solidify sixth spot in the encounter, and they took the lead when Liam Millar slotted home his third goal of the season early on.

However, the Foxes would respond and turn the game on its head, with Jordan James slotting a controversially awarded penalty home six minutes after the break, before Luke Thomas gave Gary Rowett's side the lead.

Hull struck back again though when Oli McBurnie slammed home a fine finish from just inside the box, with both teams eventually forced to settle for a draw.

Leicester City 2-2 Hull City

Despite their precarious position, it was the hosts who created the first chance as Patson Daka attempted an audacious lob over Ivor Pandur, with the ball unable to dip at the right moment for the Zambian. Divin Mukasa then dragged a low effort wide, with both shots coming inside the first five minutes.

Their pressure continued with a succession of early corners, although they ended when Jamaal Lascelles directed a free header wide of the mark. Hull's first clear chance came on 15 minutes as the Leicester defence could only clear the ball as far as John Lundstram, who curled the ball past the post.

However, the Tigers would take the lead moments later as Begovic's attempt to play out was immediately intercepted by Millar, who finessed his second of the campaign against the Foxes into the bottom corner, with the strike met with a chorus of boos and chants against the Foxes hierarchy by the home crowd.

Rowett's men looked to respond when James lined up a shot from 20 yards that caused Ivor Pandur no issues, whilst Hull continued to search for a second, with Matt Crooks also firing high and wide from the edge of the box after neat link-up play from Mohamed Belloumi and Joe Gelhardt.

Another great chance came the way of Millar on 33 minutes, but he couldn't muster a second with another effort that sailed over the top, whilst Daka should have equalised for the hosts as he got on the end of Thomas' delightful cross six minutes before half-time.

Hull then had another gilt-edged chance of their own before the break when an audacious close-range flick from Crooks was turned away from danger by Begovic.

The second half started with Hull on the front foot, but Millar, again, was unable to apply a clinical finish after making yet another lung-busting run down the left flank. They very nearly paid the price from the resulting attack, as Mukasa was found in space but fired his effort at Pandur, who turned it past the post.

However, the Foxes would then complete a two-minute turnaround no one saw coming minutes earlier. They levelled when James slotted home his 11th goal of the season from the spot after a delayed awarding of the penalty by Thomas Kirk, and then went in front when Thomas turned home Bobby De Cordova-Reid's fine cross, with Jakirovic sent to the stands in the aftermath.

The dramatic encounter then took another twist 27 minutes from time when McBurnie latched onto Millar's ball and powered home his second goal in three games from close range.

With the game on a knife-edge, Semi Ajayi was the next to go close for the Tigers as his looping header drifted just wide of the post from a hanging Lundstram cross, before a deflected Koumas cross saw Crooks send another improvised effort over Begovic.

Leicester substitute, Aaron Ramsay then forged a shooting chance for himself 11 minutes from time, but with the goal at his mercy, he couldn't beat Pandur, before Daka, again, passed up another golden opportunity as he drifted away from John Egan and hit the inside of the post.

With minutes to preserve their second tier status, the hosts then appealed for the Croatian shot-stopper to be dismissed after halting Fatawu's run, but he was only shown a yellow by Kirk.

Thomas then had a chance to take Leicester's relegation fight into the last two games, but he was stopped in his tracks by Ajayi's inch-perfect tackle, before John Egan couldn't add insult to injury in the final minute of added time.

As previously mentioned, the Foxes have now been relegated to the third tier, whilst the Tigers have fallen out of the top six for the first time since January at Wrexham's expense on goal difference.

Player Ratings

Leicester City

Asmir Begovic - 5

Ricardo Pereira - 6.5 (Choudhury 93" - N/A)

Jamaal Lascelles - 6

Jannik Vestergaard - 7

Luke Thomas - 8

Jordan James - 7.5 (Winks 60" - 6)

Oliver Skipp - 6.5 (Ramsey 75" - 6.5)

Abdul Fatawu - 7.5

Divin Mukasa - 7.5 (Ayew 93" - N/A)

Bobby De Cordova-Reid - 7 (Mavididi 75" - 6)

Patson Daka - 6.5

Unused Subs: J.Stolarczyk, H.Souttar, J.Aribo, J.Monga

Hull City

Ivor Pandur - 6.5

Lewie Coyle - 7

Semi Ajayi - 7.5

John Egan - 6.5

Ryan Giles - 6 (McNair 90" - N/A)

John Lundstram - 6.5 (Hirakawa 71" - 6.5)

Matt Crooks - 7

Mohamed Belloumi - 7 (Koumas 46" - 5.5)

Joe Gelhardt - 7 (Joseph 82" - 6)

Liam Millar - 8 (Slater 71" - 6.5)

Oli McBurnie - 7

Unused Subs: D.Phillips, C.Hughes, M.Jacob, E.Matazo

Gary Rowett reacts as Leicester City relegated to League One

Reacting to Leicester's relegation after the draw, Rowett said: "Incredibly frustrating and disappointing.

"I think, if I look at the game, it's a game, again, playing against a very good Hull side that have got lots of different elements to the team. There's a real physicality, there's a real drive and desire to run forward, and, you know, they cause you problems with that," he added.

"I felt the first half didn't really reflect the magnitude of the game.That's what I said to the players at half-time.

I said, 'How can we play like that first half with a lack of energy and a lack of bravery', really, in moments?

"We still create a couple of good chances.

"We, of course, gave a really stupid goal away, and if I said that was the first one we've given away in the last, sort of, 11, 12 games, I'd be lying, because it's been almost every game that we've given an opportunity to be opposition, and we probably rode our luck a few times when he (Millar) got into some good positions.

"Disappointed at halftime. I think Divine Mukasa summed the first half up, where, as an 18-year-old kid, he's trying to get hold of the game, and he's trying to take the ball in areas, but maybe more senior players should really be going to get the ball in.

"Half time, we tweaked a few things. At half time we responded and we got a penalty. I haven't seen it back," he added. "I think a few people have said, It was, a few people have said it wasn't. Clearly, they felt it wasn't.

"That gave us a lift, and we actually, probably, from there on in, have created numerous chances and opportunities to go and score another couple of goals, and showed probably a performance that you'd argue, you know, maybe we should have showed, sort of, 10, 12 games ago, you know, because there was a lot of energy, a lot of drive, a bit of desperation in there, and we created some great chances again.

"I think it's very easy to say, we haven't converted the chances often enough.

"If you look at us over the last five or six games, we've created so many big chances and not converted them. But, we've only kept five clean sheets all season, so that hasn't just been the reason why we sat here on an evening like this where we've been relegated.

"It's been an overall lack of the fundamentals of the game at times," Rowett claimed when looking at the cause of relegation.

Dean Holden's thoughts as Hull City fall out of top six after Leicester City draw

With Jakirovic sent off, Tigers assistant Dean Holden conducted the post-match media duties, and his thoughts were: "I'll say it again, I'm completely baffled as to why they're (Leicester) in the position they're in when you look at the players that they've got.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game. The disappointing thing for us is that we got ourselves into a leading position again, I think, 4 games out of 5 since the break and have not been able to see it through.

"The message at half time was to try and get on the front foot. We knew they had nothing to lose," he explained.

"We knew they were going to come at us and take even more risks.

"Obviously, we can see the penalty. I've genuinely not seen it back, so can't really comment, but I believe it's a debatable one.

"But irrespective of that, can we defend it a little bit better? And more importantly, can we then regroup and see out the next five, 10 minutes, knowing there are 35 minutes left in the game," Holden debated.

"So that's the disappointing thing, to concede the second as quick as we did, and then we're chasing (the game).

"We (then) scored a brilliant goal through Oli (McBurnie) againSecond, second half, and then we're giving everything, as I say.

"I'm sure it was an entertaining game, because it was end to end.

"It was like a game of basketball at times, but that became dangerous for us because they've got such good players in one-on-one duels," the City assistant added.