For the first time in five months Leicester have climbed out of the Premier League's bottom three as their unlikely great escape edged a step closer to reality with a fourth successive league victory, a 1-0 win at Burnley.
In what was billed a must-win match for both sides fellow strugglers Burnley spurned the opportunity to draw first blood when Matt Taylor missed a second-half penalty.
Just seconds later the Foxes punished that error with Jamie Vardy scoring to at least prevent the otherwise-excellent Clarets’ centre-back Michael Duff suffering the ignominy of an own goal.
The 1-0 scoreline meant Leicester won four successive league matches for the first time since October 1966 and, after 140 days at the bottom of the table before last week’s win over Swansea, they are now clear of the drop zone by a single point, something not seen since since November 17th.
For Burnley the wait for a goal goes on as another blank means they are one minute short of eight hours since they last scored on March 14th.
That win over defending champions Manchester City now seems a long time ago as they have taken one point from five matches and are now five points from safety.
In the first half there was more penetration on the adjoining cricket pitch — where England’s record wicket-taker James Anderson learned his trade — as the seamers made a couple of breakthroughs as Burnley Cricket Club’s first XI hosted Enfield in the Lancashire League.
Burnley had been dealt a blow before kick-off when striker Sam Vokes was ruled out by injury, handing Lukas Jutkiewicz his first Premier League start in six months.
The 26-year-old had more yellow cards (one) than goals in 25 previous Premier League appearances this season so it is safe to assume the Clarets were not pinning their hopes on any survival miracles from him.
Confidence
However, one man they would have wanted their first chance to fall to was Danny Ings but, just two minutes in, the England Under-21 international displayed an understandable lack of confidence after nine matches without a goal and delayed his shot long enough for Wes Morgan to get a block in.
The best other chance of the half dropped to Taylor, making his first start since August 30th after injury, but he could not properly connect with a shot hooked over his shoulder from Duff's header at a corner and Kasper Schmeichel clawed away the ball from close range.
Hull City also earned themselves some breathing space out of the relegation zone, while others failed to do likewise on Saturday in a clutch of matches with a major bearing on who will drop out of the top flight next month.
Dame N'Doye missed a first-half sitter but put Hull in front seven minutes into the second half, and for good measure it was he too who made it 2-0 in injury time against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Sunderland drop into the bottom three after a 1-1 draw at Stoke.
Dick Advocaat's visitors were in front after just 58 seconds, thanks to Connor Wickham but on 27 minutes Charlie Adam made it all square at the break, and that was how it stayed.
Newcastle join the battle
John Carver's problems took a turn for the worse as Swansea condemned Newcastle to an unwanted club record seventh successive Barclays Premier League defeat.
The Magpies, who started the day just seven points clear of the relegation zone, went into first-half stoppage time leading through Ayoze Perez’s 20th-minute strike, but surrendered their advantage before they returned to the dressing room when striker Nelson Oliveira took advantage of weak defending to head home, and capitulated within five minutes of the restart as Gylfi Sigurdsson gave the visitors the lead.
Jack Cork put the Swans further ahead 19 minutes from time and, although Siem de Jong marked his return from an eight-month injury nightmare with an 88th-minute goal, he could not prevent his side from slipping to a 3-2 loss.
There were protests by home fans among a crowd of 46,884 — the official attendance was lower than last Sunday’s against Tottenham when supporters were urged to stay away — both before and during the game, with owner Mike Ashley the target of pre-arranged action in the 34th minute, drawing attention to the £34million the club banked during the last financial year.
QPR are still in big trouble after a goalless draw at home to West Ham.
The hosts did not make it easy for themselves when Charlie Austin’s first-half penalty was saved by Adrian, but their own goalkeeper Robert Green did well to stop an Aaron Cresswell shot soon after the break.
