Football: Magical Carbone

Leicester City 0

Sheffield Wednesday 2

Jonk 48, Carbone 78

Half-time: 0-0 Attendance: 20,113

AS RECENTLY as Boxing Day, Leicester were starting to think they might sneak into Europe, regardless of the Worthington Cup. How outlooks change. Martin O'Neill's side have not won in five attempts in the Premiership since and their concerns now have more in common with Sheffield Wednesday's among the teams looking anxiously over their shoulders.

Second-half goals by Wim Jonk and Benito Carbone, underpinned by some superb defending by Emerson Thome and Des Walker, gave Wednesday a clear edge in a match that shook off the shackles of a nervous beginning to provide a half-decent finish.

"We were poor, as poor as we have been this season," O'Neill said. "We deserved to lose and now the game against Sunderland on Wednesday week becomes a very big one."

Leicester defend a 2-1 lead over the Wearsiders in the second leg of the Worthington Cup semi-final but will need to be better than this to go through.

Had Leicester claimed an advantage after 21 minutes, when Emile Heskey's flick sent Muzzy Izzet scampering into the Wednesday penalty area, the script might have unravelled differently. The midfielder shrugged off two challenges and took the ball wide of Pavel Srnicek. But in the moment he took to release the shot, Andy Hinchcliffe appeared on the goalline to intercept.

Perhaps Leicester should have shown greater adventure, asking Arnar Gunnlaugsson, their pounds 2m buy from Bolton, to perform his tricks from the start. As it was, no one in a home shirt came close to matching the threat posed by the magical Carbone.

Eventually, it took a blunder to provide the contest with a goal. Picked out by Niclas Alexandersson's sublime crossfield pass, Andy Booth looked to have squandered an opportunity when he shot tamely at Kasey Keller, but the Leicester goalkeeper failed to hold the ball. He squirted it into the air so that Jonk had the simplest of tasks to nod home.

Leicester's response was to introduce Gunnlaugsson and Frank Sinclair and force the visitors on to the back foot. However, they found Walker and Thome a formidable barrier.

In pushing forward, Leicester left gaps, which Wednesday exploited. Booth, picked out by Alexandersson, missed again but when Jonk stepped over Booth's pass Carbone, just inside the box, whipped a splendid shot past Keller.