Remembering When Howard’s Late Header Dispatched Leeds
A comeback victory over Hereford United just two days prior, courtesy of goals from Matt Oakley, Lloyd Dyer and Steve Howard, left City knowing maximum points from their next two games would secure them automatic promotion from League 1.
Despite a second game in just three days, manager Nigel Pearson opted to make just one change to his XI such was the level of opposition, with Academy graduate Max Gradel coming in for Bruno Berner.
Leeds, too, were in the hunt for promotion, through the means of the play-offs, and would eventually finish fourth before being beaten in the semi-finals over two legs by Millwall.
Late Howard Header Stuns Leeds
On 13 April, 2009, Steve Howard scored an injury-time header to give the Foxes another important win en route to their League 1 title.
Promotion for the Yorkshire outfit would have to wait another year, but not for Leicester.
Over 25,000 fans made their way to King Power Stadium for an encounter between two sides that just a decade prior were enjoying some of the best years in their modern history.
At the turn of the century, Leeds reached the UEFA Champions League Semi-Finals after an emphatic run in Europe’s platinum club competition, having also reached the last four of the UEFA Cup a year before.
Since 1997, Leeds had racked up two fifth, two fourth and a third-place finish in the Premier League, but dropped into the Championship in 2004 and then League 1 three years later.
When City met former Fox Simon Grayson’s side on a Monday night in April, Leeds had already spent a year in England’s third division, but Leicester were determined to make it just a 10-month stay.
They were only two League 1 wins away from booking their spot as one of 24 teams to contest the 2009/10 Championship, and despite fixture congestion, they got the job done against Leeds.
Andy King, Steve Howard and Matty Fryatt all went close for the hosts, while Leeds threatened to snatch all three points when City goalkeeper David Stockdale’s mistimed punch struck his own crossbar.
However, the breakthrough finally came for Leicester in injury time, when a towering header from Howard edged his side ever closer to promotion from League 1.
With Southend United, Scunthorpe United and Crewe Alexandra to play, City knew just two points were enough for their Championship return. Eventually, they collected seven, and finished 2008/09 as League 1 champions.