FORMER Owls loan star Ben Marshall returned to Hillsborough to score and help Leicester pile more misery on Wednesday at a rain-soaked Hillsborough.
Marshall, who enjoyed a successful loan stint from Stoke City at S6 last season before making a permanent move to the Foxes, bagged the second goal after Danny Drinkwater had fired Nigel Pearson’s in-form men into a first-half lead.
The defeat saw Dave Jones’s men drop into the Championship relegation spots following their third defeat on the spin and the three points move City up to third.
Jones gave debuts to new loan signings Mamady Sidibe and Jeremy Helan as he reverted to a 4-4-2 line-up at kick-off, with Jay Bothroyd partnering the Stoke loan man in attack. Club captain Martin Taylor came into the defence for the suspended Miguel Llera.
As well as Marshall, the visitors had die-hard Wednesday fan Jamie Vardy in their starting eleven, in place of the injured Davig Nugent, but the former Stocksbridge Park Steels man wasn’t to get much of a chance to get on the scoresheet.
It was a game where the goalkeepers didn’t have much to do, especially in a scrappy first-half where neither side managed to settle.
Leicester came into the game on the back of a 6-0 thumping of Ipswich Town last time out but credit had to go to the hosts for thwarting any kind of early attacking momentum from the promotion-hopefuls.
As it was, Wednesday had the first real sight of goal but Bothroyd saw his effort well blocked by a stubborn City defence and Rhys McCabe had a long-range effort comfortably saved by Foxes goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
City’s response came through Marshall, who fired a long-range shot straight into the hands of Owls stopper Chris Kirkland.
The visitors started to enjoy more of the ball but they almost shot themselves in the foot when Richie De Laet’s back pass went beyond Schmeichel and the former Leeds United goalkeeper had to scramble back to clear the danger.
There was little in the way of top quality in the match but that moment of magic came just before the interval as Pearson’s men opened the scoring. Marshall provided the pass for Drinkwater to neatly control the ball before drilling his shot into the bottom corner to give his side the advantage.
Wednesday struggled for a response in the second half and it was Leicester who looked the more likely to add to their lead rather than the hosts getting a leveller.
Marshall, central to plenty of the Foxes’ attacks, headed over the bar and Martyn Waghorn saw his powerful drive well tipped over the bar by Kirkland.
Things needed to change from the hosts’ point of view and Jones made a double change, with Chris Lines coming on for McCabe and Madine being introduced for Bothroyd.
The changes did little to change the flow of the game, however, and City wrapped the points up thanks to Marshall’s pin-point long-range strike that flew past Kirkland and into the back of the net.
Wednesday: Kirkland, Buxton, Gardner, Taylor, Helan, Antonio, Semedo, McCabe (Lines 66), J Johnson, Bothtroyd (Madine 68), Sidibe (Rodri 75). Unused substitutes: Bywater, Jones, Pecnik, Mayor.
Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, Drinkwater, Morgan, Whitbread, Marshall (Knockaert 82), Vardy, King, Dyer, Waghorn (Lingard 86), Schlupp. Unused substitutes: Logan, Konchesky, James, Moore, Futacs.
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