Lennon comes forward

The new Blackburn manager, whoever it turns out to be, would have been proud of his team last night, but it was Leicester, resilient to the last, who got through to the semi-final of a competition they won two years ago.

A lapse in defence let Rovers down after they had the better of the tie for an hour and in which they came closest to scoring. Nobody in a side galvanised by the caretaker-manager Tony Parkes was on hand to prevent Neil Lennon converting a free header from a Robbie Savage cross.

Blackburn named a midfield foursome seriously light in terms of Premiership experience, but this was not another case of giving the reserves their head. There was really no alternative for Parkes, who amid all his other problems is grappling with a debilitating list of absentees.

Apart from that quartet, he was also without Chris Sutton, even though he has completed a four-match suspension, and Parkes paired Kevin Davies and Kevin Gallacher in attack for the first time.

They saw considerably more of the ball than the Leicester striking pair early on, while the men directly behind them, for all their lack of big-match know-how, showed the spirit and combative qualities to take control.

Kasey Keller was involved as early as the second minute when Gallacher swung a free-kick towards the top corner. Suitably encouraged, Rovers kept up a steady momentum, and with Dario Marcolin quick to spot a team-mate in space, Leicester were forced to do a lot of chasing.

Damien Johnson soon produced a strong run after pinching the ball from Rob Ullathorne, but Damien Duff wasted the opportunity.

Leicester were no where near as fluent and too often their passing was vague, though danger always lurked when they could spread the play wide and invite Steve Guppy to deliver one of his killing leftwing centres.

Emile Heskey, forced to survive on scraps, had a shot from a long way out when Christian Dailly conceded possession. But there were better alternatives for the powerful young striker and it rather summed up the home team's lack of conviction and thought.

Davies, looking increasingly like a player regaining his form, had two chances as the first half ended. He should certainly have done better with the first, as Leicester paid more attention to the linesman's flag than the referee's decision to play on and allowed Gallacher to slip him in.

He could only hit his shot straight at the goalkeeper, but he came closer in the 51st minute, when another piece of improvisation sent the ball crashing against the angle of post and bar from an area of little promise well outside the penalty box.

Leicester then suffered the setback of seeing both their strikers injured, and central defender Matt Elliott had to push up front alongside substitute Stuart Wilson.

But then up popped that man Lennon.

Leicester: Keller, Savage, Ullathorne, Sinclair, Elliott, Walsh, Lennon, Parker, Heskey (Wilson 56), Fenton (Taggart 64), Guppy. Subs Not Used: Arphexad, Zagorakis, Campbell. Booked: Guppy. Goals: Lennon 67.

Blackburn: Filan, Kenna, Davidson, Henchoz, Gallacher, Duff, Davies, Marcolin, Johnson, Dailly, Dunn. Subs Not Used: Croft, Fettis, Perez, Thomas, Broomes. Booked: Dailly.

Referee: A Wilkie (Chester-le-Street).