Leicester manager Enzo Maresca hailed debutant Cesare Casadei for the late goal that secured a history-making 2-1 win at home to Cardiff.
It enabled the Foxes to celebrate four straight wins at the start of a season for the first time.
A fine strike from Aaron Ramsey looked like earning Cardiff a point after Wanya Marcal-Madivadua fired Maresca’s hosts ahead.
But on-loan Chelsea midfielder Casadei had the last word to leave Cardiff, who saw defender Mahlon Romeo sent off deep into stoppage time, remain winless under their new manager Erol Bulut.
The 20-year-old Casadei, who had only arrived on Wednesday, came off the bench to lash home a last-gasp clincher before referee Graham Scott could blow for a penalty for a foul on Jamie Vardy.
“I said to Cesare the only way to score a goal for an attacking midfielder is to be inside the box,” said Maresca.
“Everything in football happens inside the box. Ramsey scored from 40 metres but this is Ramsey, it doesn’t happen often. Cesare, one of his strengths is to arrive in the box.”
Maresca inherited a squad that suffered relegation from the Premier League last term and he has since seen fan favourites James Maddison and Harvey Barnes leave.
More departures could follow but Maresca was delighted that the players who remained had got the season off and running so well.
A tailing-off in performance towards the end of the game was understandable too, he added.
“It is important always to win a game and in this moment especially for the fans and the club after last year,” he said.
“It is important to renew new energy but also I analyse not only the results. It was important to see how the team improves game after game.
“Probably for me it was our best half. We created many chances, we scored a goal and after that Stephy (Mavididi) had a chance one-on-one with the keeper and after that there was a clear penalty for Stephy. After that we conceded just one shot, a goal from Ramsey that was unbelievable and we started the second half still thinking about the goal.
“In this moment we cannot think the team over 90 or 105 minutes is also playing like the first half.”
Marcal-Madivadua’s 36th-minute opener – a high-velocity effort from 15 yards out through a crowd of players after Cardiff had failed to clear a corner – was a first senior goal for the 20-year-old from Portugal.
Out of nowhere, however, Ramsey launched a stoppage-time long-ranger into the top corner to level.
“I think goal of the year maybe,” said Bluebirds boss Bulut. “You don’t always see goals like this and it was the reason we got back in the game.”
That was true and Cardiff might have gone ahead when half-time substitute Yakou Meite was sent through by Romeo but could not hit the target.
“In the second half we had our chances,” Bulut said. “Meite’s was the biggest one. He, in my opinion, hit it a bit quick.
Casadei made Cardiff pay at the death with a winner and Romeo’s second yellow for barging Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall over off the ball swiftly followed.
Cardiff were left to rue what might have been, as they had at Leeds on the opening day when a two-goal lead was finally surrendered in stoppage time.
“What I have to say, and I have said it also before in Leeds, where we were leading at 90-plus, that football is details. With details you win, with details you lose,” Bulut said.
“The second half from my team was great. How many chances to you need to create against Leicester to win the game? Today we could have made it 2-1 and maybe 3-1. We should have won the game but in the end we didn’t manage to score and we lost unluckily.
“These are the things we have to manage better. When we have the chances we have to take them.”
Saudi Pro League: Mahrez and Firmino on target as Al-Ahli tighten grip on third place
Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino were both on target as Al-Ahli tightened their grip on third place in the Saudi Pro League table with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday.
Matthias Jaissle's team were four goals up within just 25 minutes as Damac folded, Ziyad Al Johani and Feras Al Brikan netting their first two before Franck Kessie was felled by Dhari Al Anazi for a penalty, converted by Mahrez.
Firmino then tapped home a fourth after being teed up by former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the break, but Al-Ahli took their foot off the gas from there, Domagoj Antolic's second-half consolation rounding off the scoring.
Elsewhere, 10-man Al-Riyadh scored two stoppage-time draws to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Al-Fateh in Al-Mubarraz.
Goals from Djaniny and former Columbus Crew star Lucas Zelarayan put Slaven Bilic's hosts on the brink of victory, with Al-Riyadh playing almost half the game a player down after Khalid Al Shuwayyi's 54th-minute red card.
An astonishing collapse denied them, however, with Mohammed Al Shwirekh halving the arrears one minute into stoppage time before Didier Ndong headed in a left-wing cross three minutes later.
Thursday's other game saw Al-Hazm and Al-Akhdoud play out a goalless draw, keeping the hosts bottom of the table while Al-Akhdoud inched two points clear of the relegation zone.
Will Still leaves Reims job with immediate effect
Will Still has left his role as Reims head coach with immediate effect, the Ligue 1 club announced on Thursday.
Still took over as Reims boss – initially on an interim basis – after Oscar Garcia was sacked in October 2022 and went unbeaten through his first 19 league games at the helm.
The 31-year-old was eventually handed the role on a permanent basis and led Reims to an 11th-placed finish in Ligue 1 in 2022-23, with his lack of a UEFA Pro Licence causing the club to be fined €25,000 per match until he began the course.
Reims are currently 11th in Ligue 1 again, though they are winless in their last five games and have lost each of their last three.
In a statement, the club said: "Following a meeting this morning between president Jean-Pierre Caillot, general manager Mathieu Lacour and head coach Will Still, it was mutually agreed that the two parties would not continue the sporting adventure together next season.
"In order to allow Reims to confidently look forward to the next year, it was also decided that Will Still and his deputy Nicolas Still would step down from their respective functions as of today."
Still was linked with the Sunderland job earlier this season and said in February that he would be open to joining an "ambitious" Championship club.
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
