Floods, floodlights and the Foxes: Cheltenham Town’s past meetings with Leicester City - European Football

With just two competitive meetings, a fixture disrupted by floods and Leicester City’s first game under floodlights at Whaddon Road, Cheltenham Town’s previous meetings with the Foxes have been anything but ordinaryMatty Fryatt and Michael Townsend

Cheltenham Town play 2021 winners Leicester City in the FA Cup third round at a sold-out EV Charger Points Stadium on Saturday afternoon (12.15pm kick-off).

The clubs have only met twice in competitive action, both during the 2008/09 League One campaign, with the Foxes winning 4-0 on each occasion.

They were on their way to the League One title under boss Nigel Pearson, ending the season on 96 points, seven clear of runners-up Peterborough United.

The Robins, meanwhile, suffered relegation to League Two at the end of a turbulent campaign, finishing 23rd, above only Hereford United.

The Whaddon Road meeting was only Cheltenham’s fourth game of the season, but they had just been thrashed 4-0 at Oldham Athletic and Keith Downing’s reign was soon to end.

It was 1-0 at half-time after Lloyd Dyer’s opener, but Matt Oakley, Matty Fryatt and another from Dyer after the break completed the rout in front of 5,344 fans, taking Leicester top of the table.

2008 meeting

By the return game, Martin Allen was in charge of Cheltenham, having previously spent a brief spell at Leicester at the start of the previous season, lasting just four games.

Allen’s side were on a 15-game winless streak when they arrived at what was then known as the Walkers Stadium.

The scoreline was repeated, with Steve Howard and Fryatt on target in the first half and Tom Cleverley and Oakley scoring in the second, watched by 18,939.

2009 meeting

Cheltenham had played at the stadium once before, losing a behind-closed-doors friendly 2-0 in July 2007, with Fryatt and Darren Kenton scoring for Allen’s side. Defender Kenton appeared for Cheltenham the following season.

The match had been scheduled for Whaddon Road, where Allen’s father Denis had managed in the 1970s, but severe flooding meant there was no running water in large areas of Gloucestershire, including at the ground.

2007 friendly

There has been a friendly meeting since, with Brendan Rodgers bringing a strong squad including Manchester United-bound Harry Maguire, new signing Youri Tielemans and Jamie Vardy in July 2019.

Luke Varney, a Leicester lad, headed Cheltenham in front, but Vardy and Marc Albrighton scored in the second half to secure a 2-1 win for the Foxes, watched by 3,707, including 1,224 in the away end.

Leicester’s first match under floodlights was played at Whaddon Road in a March 1952 friendly, arranged as part of the deal that saw Peter Rushworth leave Cheltenham to join the Foxes the previous November.

Their Combination team secured a 3-1 win, despite a superb display from Robins goalkeeper Ron Coltman.

Bert Barlow put Leicester ahead before half-time, with Eric Littler and Jimmy Crawford adding further goals in the second half before Edward Rigby pulled one back for the hosts. Rushworth captained Leicester on the night, against his old team.

“Opinions on the lighting were good,” reported the Leicester Evening Mail, with Leicester manager Norman Bullock saying he could “follow the match perfectly.”.

Their centre-half Reg Halton was not quite as impressed, claiming: “I lost the ball when it went into the lights and had to shield my eyes, but apart from those few occasions I could see quite all right.”

Cheltenham beat Leicester’s Under-21s 6-1 at home in the EFL Trophy in January 2017, with Diego De Girolamo scoring a hat-trick, alongside goals from Daniel O’Shaughnessy, Billy Waters and Amari Morgan-Smith.

Bartosz Kapustka was Leicester’s scorer and they also included Hamza Choudhury, who went on to establish himself in the first team, as well as Josh Debayo, who joined Cheltenham in 2018.

Leicester Under-18s beat their Robins counterparts 5-0 in the FA Youth Cup third round at the King Power Stadium in 2015/16.

Cam Pring and Luke Thomas – now with Bristol City and Bristol Rovers respectively – were both in Jamie Victory’s Cheltenham line-up.