Marti Cifuentes impressed by Leicester’s energy and desire in win at Cheltenham

Marti Cifuentes praised Leicester’s ‘energy and desire’ as they negotiated their FA Cup third round test at Cheltenham, winning 2-0.

The Foxes boss made eight changes to his line-up after their 2-1 Championship victory over West Brom on Monday and first-half goals from Patson Daka and Stephy Mavididi were enough to see off the challenge of the League Two hosts.

Cifuentes explained: “I’m pleased with the guys, especially with the changes.

“The FA Cup is a beautiful competition and we want to go as far as possible but it was also important to build confidence ahead of our game against Coventry.

“You see every year there is a surprise and Crystal Palace lost, so we didn’t want to be that surprise. I was pleased with the energy and desire.

“It’s good to get back-to-back wins and keep a clean sheet, which we haven’t done for a while.

“Cheltenham fought until the last minute and their crowd must be happy with their performance.

“Overall it was a good performance and we achieved what we needed to.”

Steve Cotterill’s Robins competed well and Luke Young’s free-kick from the edge of the box nearly opened the scoring in the 14th minute, flashing just past the right post.

The Foxes scored with their first serious attempt, when Mavididi played in Daka, and the Zambia international curled a perfectly-placed shot beyond the dive of Joe Day in the 23rd minute

Day did well to turn a powerful header from Jannik Vestergaard over the bar from Louis Page’s corner in the 29th minute.

Cheltenham threatened again when Jordan Thomas forced Asmir Begovic into a diving save after good work from Jake Bickerstaff in the 38th minute.

But 2021 FA Cup winners Leicester doubled their lead in the final minute of the first half when Mavididi skipped away from Jonathan Tomkinson, cut in from the left and saw a low drive deflected past Day.

Jordan Thomas drew a fine save from Begovic in the 63rd minute with a deft chip after he had beaten Hamza Choudhury but Cheltenham could not find a way through.

Cheltenham boss Cotterill was pleased with his side’s approach, but admitted Leicester’s class shone through.

“The lads tried their best, but Leicester just have those polished players so when it comes to the finer moments, they can get out of them and have answers to them,” he said.

“Apart from the two goals, which we are disappointed with, I am not disappointed with the effort, or the team commitment.

“I thought the plan was going OK but the second was a killer just before half-time, so we could have done without that. I thought we had a go in the second half.”