Keeper in fine form for Reds

Liverpool keeper David James saved a penalty and pulled off a brilliant injury-time save to earn the Merseysiders their first Boxing Day win in five years.

James dived to his right to beat out Steve Thompson's 63rd minute spot-kick, after John Barnes had tripped Lee Philpott inside the box, and then right at the end spread himself to keep out a point-blank effort from Mark Blake.

James' penalty save was crucial, as four minutes later Liverpool took the lead through Robbie Fowler's hotly-disputed penalty, after Mike Whitlow was adjudged to have pushed John Scales inside the box.

The Reds moved 2-0 ahead on 77 minutes, when Fowler and Barnes combined to carve open the Filberts rearguard for Ian Rush to slide in and beat Kevin Poole at the near post.

Five minutes later Leicester had Simon Grayson sent off for his second bookable offence.

However, three minutes from time Leicester gave themselves hope of a draw when Mark Draper hoisted a free kick into the area and sub Iwan Roberts rose unchallenged to head home beyond James' advance.

Liverpool held out, though, to end a disappointing run, which had seen them score only twice in their five previous games.

Leicester, missing the injured Julian Joachim and David Lowe, offered little threat in attack.

Liverpool manager Roy Evans praised James: "For 85 minutes we did well, but might have thrown it all away in the last five. David James did exceptionally well for us in making the three fine saves. The last one was a little bit special. Overall, I think we deserved to win. It's hard to play against teams who sit back and wait for you to come at them, but we were patient and got our just rewards in the end."

Leicester boss Mark McGhee described the defeat as a game of two penalties: "It all hinged on two moments - they scored a penalty and we didn't. I have absolutely no doubt that if we had scored from the penalty, we would have got something from this match. When I arrived here, I said we needed 31 points for safety. We got a point against Blackburn, so I think we can do it."

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