Pearson: Plenty Of Positives

After successive league defeats, a point at the home of a side second in the npower Championship table and searching for a fifth straight win is certainly not to be sniffed at.

But the Foxes were again unable to take one of the several chances they created in a game they controlled for long spells, with Pearson admitting post-match that his players may have had their confidence dented a touch by a recent lean spell which now stands at one win in six.

“Today we lacked that bit of extra belief, but there were plenty of positives,” Pearson said.

“The players really stuck at it on what became a difficult surface against a very good team and we had the chances to win it. We had some decent attempts and one of the qualities on show was that we had a little more resilience about us.

“We didn’t want to slip any further behind today. It would have been nice to have won the game and I think a few weeks ago we would have done, but maybe confidence isn’t quite what it has been.

“We’ll regain it if we keep performing like that.”

The Foxes were particularly productive in a first half which saw Anthony Knockaert and Danny Drinkwater both go close to hitting the vital opener.

But their creativity was balanced by their determination in defence, typified by a stunning goal-line clearance from full-back Ritchie De Laet to deny Jay Simpson and an outstanding goalkeeping performance from Kasper Schmeichel.

“Those sorts of things have been missing at times – a real driving desire to keep the ball out of our net at any cost and we did that pretty well,” Pearson said.

“In the first half we had some good chances and asked some questions of their goalkeeper. In the second half we nullified them quite well and had the best opportunities again.

“It was a good game played by two sides that like to play attacking football and, to a degree, we cancelled each other out. But, for a nil-nil, it was a pretty good game.

“We’re not winning enough games at the moment but, with the players we have, we’ll turn that around.”