Bruno Berner blow forces Leicester City into quick change of plan
City were forced into a double reshuffle as they led 2-0 at the break with Morrison expecting one new central-defensive partner – and ending up with another one instead.
An early injury suffered by Jack Hobbs forced his departure at half-time and Bruno Berner was lined up as his replacement, only to pull out dramatically with a calf problem.
That forced Manchester City loanee Ryan McGivern to switch from left-back to centre-half with 18-year-old Academy graduate Luke O'Neill stepping into the fray for his first League appearance, although he is normally a right-back. The re-organised City back-line conceded after just a minute of the re-start, but then repelled the United threat to secure their seventh home win of the campaign.
"It was a bit of a shame to concede such an early goal at the start of the second half but it took us a few minutes to get used to each other and it was difficult," said Morrison, whose opening goal for City was also his first of the campaign.
"Luke knew only a few seconds before the second half that he was playing and it was a bit of a slow start but I think people will understand that."
Morrison and McGivern have just nine League starts between them this season and O'Neill's only other outings were last season in the Carling Cup and Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Robbie Neilson, the other member of the City back four, has made 15 starts.
"I don't think many people would have predicted what was going to happen, I'm not sure how many times Ryan has played at centre-half or Luke at left-back but I thought we got to grips with things and looked like a solid unit," said Morrison. "We all have to play well to keep our shirt and I guess that's one of the reasons why we are doing well."
City's outstanding display against the Blades earned them a two-goal reward at the break with Morrison opening the scoring after a 25th-minute set-piece as he capitalised on an error from United's goalkeeper Mark Bunn .
Bunn, one of six keepers used by City last season, had made a superb save to tip over a Morrison pile-driver but flapped at the resulting corner and the former Cambridge United defender pounced at the near-post.
Morrison said: "I don't think the bench were too happy when they saw me shaping up to shoot but it was a decent strike and I was quite pleased."
Matty Fryatt also struck from the penalty spot and Morrison agreed with the general concensus that this was arguably City's best first-half display of the campaign.
"We got the ball down and looked dangerous. We always looked likely to score. Lloyd Dyer was a real threat but I think all the lads felt good out there," he said
City are up to fourth place going into today's clash at Doncaster and Morrison added: "We're probably in a higher position than many thought but you can't argue from the number of games we've played that we aren't up there on merit.
"Now we've got to go to Doncaster and keep ourselves up there.
"It's another tough game and we'll have to look at the team we can put out. We've steered clear of injuries and now we've got three centre-halves injured (Berner, Hobbs and Wayne Brown) so we'll have to see how we are."
Michael Morrison's goal
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