Sven Goran Eriksson's Leicester justified their billing as one of the Championship's promotion favourites by grinding out a 1-0 win at Coventry on the opening day of the season on Saturday. Eriksson was handed a substantial transfer kitty by Leicester's Thai owners during the close-season and splashed out over £8 million on 10 new signings.
The spending spree paid instant dividends as Leicester recovered from Darius Vassell's early dismissal to take the points thanks to defender Lee Peltier's goal soon after half-time at the Ricoh Arena. Coventry were also down to 10 men by then after Carl Baker saw red for a reckless challenge.
The Asia Football Investments consortium, fronted by Vichai and Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn, have set Eriksson a target of promotion to the Premier League this season and this gritty victory gave the former England coach encouragement for the hard work ahead. Eriksson's team got the winner in the 52nd minute as Richie Wellens produced a perfectly weighted cross that Peltier headed past Joe Murphy.
Steve McClaren, another former England coach, fared less well as his Nottingham Forest were held to a 0-0 draw by Barnsley at the City Ground. Birmingham suffered a miserable start to life outside the Premier League as Chris Hughton's side were beaten 2-1 at Derby.