Blue Army column by Steve Pumfrey: Grim day out for Leicester City fans

The omens were not good for the Blue Army from the minute the convoy of coaches set off from Filbert Way. It quickly dawned on a couple of fans that they had left their lucky headgear behind, then roadworks frustrated their journey up the M1 before there was a bit of nonsense as Sheffield Wednesday officials refused to allow the Leicester City supporters to bring in flags, banners and other bits of paraphernalia which usually decorate the away end at games.

Then the real schoolboy error. On offer on the Hillsborough concourse are the club's "legendary" pork sandwiches with stuffing and crackling. But instead, a run-of-the-mill steak and kidney pie is ordered – and it's a major disappointment.

Run-of-the-mill was probably one of the kinder ways to describe City's performance in the 2-0 Championship defeat on Saturday.

The lads in Row 26 are probably going to suggest to one of their buddies that he stays away in future.

City have won five times away from the Walkers Stadium – and this guy had not seen any of them, instead watching them lose at Newcastle and Swansea and having to settle for a point after leading at Watford.

But the Blue Army do have some wonderful memories of previous trips to Hillsborough, most notably their 1997 League Cup final replay win over Middlesbrough, when current boss Nigel Pearson was the opposition skipper.

Last time out, City were winners too, one of just five away wins when the club slipped into the third tier at the end of the 2007-08 campaign. So a bit of recent success but, despite player-coach Chris Powell's best efforts, City fans watched in bemusement as Wednesday flew out of the blocks and the visitors were left at the start.

Powell always concludes the team's pre-match warm-up with a best-of-three penalty shoot-out against reserve keeper Conrad Logan, providing the host club allow it.

It helps to build the atmosphere in the away end and, to accompanying cheers, Powell netted two out of three. Little did Logan know at this stage that he would be taking part in the main event too.

Logan received a good reception from the away fans, who admire his 'stickability' when he rarely gets a look-in, after he went on for the injured Chris Weale.

But their main concern was for the faltering performance of the team, stunned by Leon Clarke's early strike. There were just a few fans looking optimistically towards a positive conclusion.

"If we can get level, they will drop their heads," said one supporter.

Unfortunately, the Wednesday players refused to concede their advantage and added to their tally with Clarke's second of the game.

"Why are we still here," chorused the Blue Army as the game drifted deep into stoppage-time and there were some boos at the final whistle.

City defender Wayne Brown, who received some fearful stick from Leicester fans throughout the encounter, applauded the travelling faithful, which took some bottle, but he has never been shy of fronting up.

Pearson had earlier received a good reception from the home fans, who nicknamed him "Captain Fantastic" during his time with the Yorkshire club.

He might have expected a poor reaction from the City fans to his parting wave but, instead, a cry of "There's only one Nigel Pearson, " rang out, which suggested that many fans were thinking this was just another minor blip in a promotion campaign.

The ones who left early to the taunts of "Cheerio, Cheerio" probably did not share the same view.