Leicester City Stand Point by David Bevan: Just one of those days for Blue Army

As a football fan, games occasionally come along which have defeat written all over them.

They might be at a ground or a city where your team traditionally struggles.

Maybe your side have been unbeaten for eight games and are due a loss.

Perhaps your manager has just won the dreaded manager-of-the-month award.

While all of the above was true for City when they turned up to face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday, what really drove it home for me was paying more than £10 for parking and then walking round the corner to be greeted by a gigantic sign advertising the same facility for less than a quarter of the price.

Sometimes you can just tell it is not going to be your day.

As for the game itself, it was clear that Wednesday were fired up from the outset after their five-goal humiliation at Reading last weekend, and City failed to get out of the blocks quickly enough to respond.

Even five minutes into the game, the City fans who were gathered behind Chris Weale's goal felt the home side's opening strike had been coming.

It was most unlike this City side, who are usually so effective at keeping the game tight when the opposition are enjoying a good spell.

Soon afterwards, and for the first time this season, it was no longer Weale's goal as Conrad Logan replaced our injured No.1 to cries of support from the fans in the away end.

Logan did not have much to do but made a couple of fine sprawling saves in the second half.

However, he was helpless as Leon Clarke scored his second from close range to give Wednesday a 2-0 advantage that City never really looked like clawing back.

Our starting XI was not physical enough but, in the second half, Nigel Pearson seemingly tried to make up for this by throwing on two targetmen in the shape of Steve Howard and Yann Kermorgant.

One long ball ended up with both men aiming to win the header and possession was lost.

Unfortunately, it summed up our fruitless day in the Steel City.

For Pearson, I think the main lesson was that City need a more effective Plan B when their initial approach is failing.

At Hillsborough, we needed it more quickly than it arrived when a double substitution was made 20 minutes from the end and we deserved the subsequent two-goal deficit.

Defeats for Sheffield United and Middlesbrough helped City's play-off cause, but things are now back on a knife-edge with regard to the top six following a grim display up north.