Leicester City 1 Sheff Wed 1

Last updated : 08 March 2003 By Footymad Previewer

Leicester City's promotion jitters made it three games without a win as they fought out a dour 1-1 draw with relegation-threatened Sheffield Wednesday.

The scoresheet will show Owls' midfielder Paul McLaren found the net at both ends but the truth is that both strikes owed much to mistakes by the two goalkeepers.

McLaren's 25th minute free kick was struck well enough but it was straight at Ian Walker in the Leicester goal.

Yet somehow the former England keeper let the ball squirm from his grasp and into the net to give the visitors a shock lead.

But if that was bad fellow keeper Paul Evans' blunder is a strong contender for cock-up of the season.

There seemed no danger when McLaren's firmly hit back pass reached the Owls' number one but instead of controlling the ball Evans slashed wildly at it in an attempt to clear - only to see it roll untouched under his boot and into the net.

The equaliser was an undeserved bonus for Leicester who had rarely threatened.

Paul Dickov and Andrew Impey had squandered their best chances in the first half and they barely deserved to draw level.

But Evans' goof spurred them on and they could then have forced a winner late on.

Substitute Nicky Summerbee sent over a succession of teasing crosses from the right and James Scowcroft saw his diving header clear the Wednesday crossbar by inches.

Muzzy Izzet looked to have scored a winner when his last minute header cleared Evans only to be knocked off the line by Gary Monk.

The draw means Leicester miss their chance to go level with Portsmouth at the top of the table but if they can control their end of season jitters promotion remains well within their grasp.