City boss Nigel Pearson took great delight not only in the 5-1 trouncing of Scunthorpe United at the Walkers Stadium this afternoon but also in the performance of hat-trick Paul Gallagher.
Gallagher scored his first ever professional hat-trick, as City returned to goalscoring form at home in fine style. Pearson was delighted to see the ex Blackburn striker hit form to move on to five goals for the season.
"I am pleased for Gally. He has had a bit of criticism and he has gone away with the match-ball. I am pleased for the players.It is a great win for us regardless of what the situation. To score five is always very satisfying , it doesn't happen often so I am very pleased."
Pearson's side always looked in control against their lowly opposition but the City gaffer believes there was not too much difference between today and Tuesday's frustrating draw at Doncaster.
"Today it was about making sure we got the right result and we have done, and pretty emphatically as well. We always believe we have goals in the squad, Paul has got a hat-trick, Michael Morrison again has come up with the first goal.
When you try to dissect what has happened today it is very easy to be smug about it but let's be honest, the difference between the game today and the one against Doncaster is that the margins of error are very small actually."
City's victory ensured that they closed the gap on all of the team's ahead of them in the Championship, but insists this is a result they must now build on.
"I am sitting here and we have won 5-1 and that is the sort of league it is. I can't afford to get carried away with good wins and I am not going to get too despondent when things don't quite go our way.
That is how it is. We are still in a decent position. Today does not do us any harm at all and I am delighted with the players because, whatever the results are, they have worked very hard so good for them today."
Gallagher's hat-trick was a timely boost to Leicester, who lost Matty Fryatt to injury on Tuesday night, and there may have been a worry about where the goals would come from. But depsite City's five star performance Pearson is well aware that City will still miss their top scorer.
"Matt will still be a big miss for us because he is the type of player who will always score goals for us in tight games but the important thing to remember is that if we stay around the play-off places as we have done for most of the season, when he is fit again hopefully he will have a positive impact on what hopefully will be an exciting season for us."
