Wood Hails Phillips Influence

The New Zealand international credited his goal to the former Premier League Golden Boot winner, who announced his retirement at the end of City’s Championship-winning season. 

And the 22-year-old former West Brom man - who came off the bench to great effect with City trailing 2-1 - was glad to get back to business on the field following a week of speculation regarding the striker’s King Power Stadium future. 

Wood told Foxes Player: “[When the ball came] I was just concentrating on getting a good connection. I’ve been working on that with Kevin Phillips all week, all the strikers have. We’ve been able to work on those things and he’s got us on tune for those types of finishes. 

"We’ve done a lot of striker work with us five up front. He’s shown us his experience and what he can do in those positions and we can then take that into our own games. 

“I’ve just got to get my head down and take the chances when I can. 

“There was speculation, but I sat down with the manager at the start of the week and reiterated that I wanted to stay and fight. That’s what I want to do. This is a good step up for everybody and I’d like the chance to test myself. 

"I just got my head down and focused on doing my own job for the team, and that’s all that I can do.” 

And happy with his contribution in the draw against Roberto Martinez’s side, Wood is hopeful that goalscoring opportunities and results keep coming City’s way. 

He added: “It feels like a well-earned point. We created some good chances and I think we had the better chances in the game and it’s nice to come away with a draw against a good, top quality side. 

"There were chances for us to win. It’s something we can build on as long as those chances are there and keep coming. 

"You always want to start off with a good performance and I think we’ve done that. The result can take care of itself. If we’re playing well and doing the right things, hopefully the result will follow.”