Richie Wellens hit a cracker against his former club as Leicester’s dazzling second-half showing sent them on their way to an emphatic victory at the Walkers Stadium.
Billy Sharp had put Doncaster ahead inside the opening 10 minutes, but goals from Paul Gallagher, Wellens, Kyle Naughton, Darius Vassell and substitute Martyn Waghorn sealed a fine win for the Foxes on home soil.
Sven-Goran Eriksson made one change from the side which went down at Vicarage Road last weekend, recalling Miguel Vitor at the heart of defence at the expense of Jack Hobbs.
Weale
Naughton — Davies — Vitor — Cunningham
Abe — Wellens — King
Vassell — Bednar — Gallagher
Leicester’s bumper crowd were silenced just six minutes into the game when the visitors took the lead. James Coppinger dribbled the ball to the byline before chipping towards striker Billy Sharp, whose acrobatic effort found the top corner in style.
The goal – the 100th of the striker’s career – condemned City to another terrible start, but forced Eriksson’s side into life.
As the half wore on the Foxes began to take a hold of proceedings, but the evergreen Neil Sullivan in the Doncaster goal was simply left twiddling his thumbs for the majority of the half.
But the former Wimbledon goalkeeper could only watch on as Leicester almost forced themselves level. Greg Cunningham’s corner was met by the head of captain Andy King, only for the ball to bounce back off the crossbar.
At the other end Curtis Davies’ woeful back pass was intercepted by David Healy, who, after rounding Chris Weale, comically miscued his effort on the angle wide.
Eriksson was forced into a substitution just 37 minutes into the match when Roman Bednar limped off with an injury, the West Brom loanee replaced by Lloyd Dyer.
A change of shape shifted Darius Vassell into the middle of City’s three-pronged attack, and results were reaped almost immediately. Andy King’s through ball found the striker, but his effort from an awkward position failed to test Sullivan.
Then, on the stroke of half time, lady luck shone down upon the Blues. Lloyd Dyer picked up on Richie Wellens’ back heel, only to be allegedly brought down by Rovers ‘keeper Sullivan. It looked harsh on first glance, thoughts which were mirrored by most of the grateful Blue Army.
Rovers players were furious with the referee, more so when Paul Gallagher drilled in his third goal in two matches to level the tie.
Half-time: Leicester 1-1 Doncaster
If Leicester’s equaliser was somewhat fortuitous, there was no luck involved in the way the Foxes took apart the visitors in the second period.
City unleashed from the re-start, going close to finding the net four minutes after the break when Curtis Davies powered a Greg Cunningham corner just wide.
Cunningham was involved shortly afterwards when his fierce 20-yard free-kick smashed the crossbar after Darius Vassell was brought down on the edge of the area.
But Leicester did finally have the ball in the net with half an hour remaining. Richie Wellens drove forward from midfield before unleashing a superb effort into the bottom corner to give the Foxes the lead against his former side.
Then, in the 69th minute, Eriksson’s side found a third. A perfectly executed counter attack saw Wellens in the thick of the action again, his lovely through ball finding right-back Kyle Naughton, who slid the ball neatly into the corner.
Darius Vassell went close with an audacious bicycle kick from Lloyd Dyer’s cross, before King headed comfortably into Sullivan’s arms from Naughton’s ball in from the right.
Cries of Olé reverberated around the Walkers as the 27,000-strong crowd lapped up City’s fluid football, and they were treated shortly afterwards with yet another goal.
Lloyd Dyer’s ball through was latched onto by Vassell, who made no mistake of slipping the ball past Sullivan for his first Leicester goal.
It was champagne football from the Foxes, who had toyed with their Yorkshire opponents for the duration of the second period.
Rovers threatened to add to their solitary strike with ten minutes remaining, but Miguel Vitor swept up danger inside the box after substitute Dean Shiels and Coppinger combined well.
Leicester substitute Martyn Waghorn could have added another to the tally when he was sent over the top, but his poor first tough made life easy for Sullivan in the Rovers goal.
Leicester continued their domination in possession, and added the icing on the cake in stoppage time when Waghorn grabbed a fifth.
Andy King broke through the Rovers backline with ease and hit the post with his resulting effort, but Waghorn was on hand to tap in the rebound to seal a fine Leicester victory.
Leicester: Weale, Vitor, Gallagher, King (c), Naughton, Wellens, Abe, Davies, Cunningham, Vassell, Bednar
Subs: Oakley, Dyer, Fryatt, Logan, Waghorn, Moussa, Hobbs
Doncaster: Sullivan, Coppinger, Stock (c), Healy, Hayter, Martis, O’Connor, Sharp, Oster, Thomas, Hird
Subs: Woods, Brooker, Shiels, Wilson, Souza, Lockwood, Fairhurst
