Leicester 2-4 Burton Albion
- Published
League Two Burton Albion pulled off one of the shocks of the Capital One Cup second round as they beat Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
Chris Palmer put the visitors ahead in the 20th minute before Cleveland Taylor made it 2-0 to the Brewers.
The Championship side responded through Anthony Knockaert but two quick goals from Robbie Weir and Jacques Maghoma put Burton firmly in control.
Marko Futacs struck late on but it was not enough to deny Burton victory.
I'll shoulder the blame - Pearson
Albion produced a fine attacking display to belie their third-tier status and reach the League Cup third round for the first time in their history.
However, they needed a touch of good fortune to open the scoring as Brewers striker Calvin Zola was brought down on the edge of the area and Palmer's resulting free-kick took a big deflection off the wall and flew past a wrong-footed Kasper Schmeichel.
It got better for Burton seven minutes into the second half when Taylor took advantage of Zak Whitbread's hesitancy inside the area to steal possession and fire home.
Leicester got back into the game on the hour through Knockaert's 20-yard free-kick, but their hopes of rescuing the tie were dented when Weir converted a penalty minutes later.
And the game was effectively ended as a contest as Maghoma's swerving effort from over 30 yards restored Burton's two-goal advantage in the 68th minute.
The home side battled hard in the closing stages and though they scored again through Futacs's hooked effort, it was too little to deny Burton a famous win.
Leicester boss Nigel Pearson: "It was an awful result and an awful performance. The side should have been good enough to negotiate that cup tie but we ended up being embarrassed.
"We had a number of players who missed the opportunity to perform on the big stage. It was a very bad night for us. But the biggest disappointment is the fact we have not won the game.
"I know I made a number of changes but we had players who felt they had not had the number of opportunities they would have liked so far. A number of them had the chance in this match and they have clearly not taken it.
"There is no hiding place from a result and performance like that. I am the manager and I will take responsibility."
Burton manager Gary Rowett: "We set out with a game plan and had just one up front because we needed an extra body in midfield.
"We rode our luck at times and the goals came at the right time for us, but there were some excellent individual performances and it was a fantastic result for us. A terrific win.
"We had to work really hard for everything and we needed to ride our luck and take our chances. We stuck at it and kept believing and there was some great skill for the goals.
"It is a wonderful result for us but if we don't follow it up it is a waste so we are not going to get too excited about it."