Marti Cifuentes praises Leicester’s battling quality in victory over Birmingham

Leicester manager Marti Cifuentes hailed his players’ durability after watching his side secure a deserved 2-0 win over midlands rivals Birmingham.

Goals from Abdul Fatawu and Ricardo Pereira condemned the visitors to their first Sky Bet Championship defeat since promotion from League One.

However after being tasked with steering his side back to the top flight at the first attempt following last term’s relegation, Cifuentes was delighted with the resilience his squad demonstrated.

“I am happy because it is never easy to win in this league against a good team,” Cifuentes said. “It was hard, but we had to grind it out and credit my players for doing that.

“We showed commitment, determination and resilience to see it out.

“We did not concede many chances and our keeper did not have too much work to do.

“I am pleased for my players and the young ones – (Louis) Page and (Jeremy) Monga – had really good energy. They will help us for sure, but that was also about everyone.

“We can get better at controlling games, for sure. But we showed good qualities.

“Abdul is very important for us. I am delighted for him because he had a tough season last time and he has a smile on his face now. So that’s good.

“The target is always to have the best squad possible and, when the deadline passes, hopefully I will be as pleased as I am now.”

Despite not producing a thrilling performance, Leicester were the superior team for the majority of a match high on endeavor but, Fatawu’s finish and Monga’s brilliance aside, low on invention.

The Ghana international, who had interest from Everton earlier this summer, got Cifuentes’ men off to a flying start when he combined with Louis Page to punish some indecisive defending.

Ethan Laird hesitated when the ball was worked forward and his confusion proved contagious among the visitors’ rearguard. That allowed Fatawu, scoring for the second game in a row, to cut inside and caress the ball past Ryan Allsop.

Birmingham, who are chasing back-to-back promotions after storming to the League One title, clawed their way back into the game during the closing stages, but without ever troubling the Leicester defence.

Jay Stansfield’s absence proved costly as several openings went begging before Ricardo Pereira ensured the hosts finished the night in third place.

The Portuguese defender wheeled away in celebration but acknowledged it was 16-year-old Monga who deserved the plaudits, brilliantly creating the chance.

After tasting their first league defeat of the season, Birmingham manager Chris Davies said: “We are disappointed to lose the game. I thought we had the lion’s share of it and were strong and dominant throughout.

“I’ve seen a lot of Leicester and they couldn’t get a rhythm going. But we didn’t do enough where it mattered, maybe, in that final third.

“A lot of it was good, though. However, it was a poor opening goal to concede from our perspective.

“We recovered well from that, though. Then the second one was poor as well.

“All in all, though, I’ve had to pick the players up in the dressing room and remind them that, aside from the result, there were a lot of positives out there.

“We hesitated for their first one. Still, to be fair, there was quite a bit for their lad to do when he got the ball.

“But again, I like the way that we recovered. Last season, we were in League One and they were in the Premier League. We came here and dominated so for me, that’s a good sign.”