Burton Albion vs Leicester City

The 2012/13 season is almost upon us after the excitement of the Euro's and the 'extended pre-season' action that the Olympic's has so far offered up. The real highlight of the pre-season schedule for us however was neither of these competitions or matches but two sides very much in my favour set to battle it out at the Pirelli stadium, so you can keep your El Classico, say no to the Milan derby because this was to be Burton Albion vs Leicester City.

The problem soon arose of which end to frequent for the 90 minutes given that I am a Leicester City supporter first and foremost but have an ever-growing soft spot for The Brewer's. After hearing that Leicester were selling tickets for the away end and that many Albion supporters would be still soaking up the sun on their jollies we opted for our usual spot on the 'popside' with the Albion lot, this was after all, a friendly.

Walking into the stadium greeted by a sea of blue to my left raised a smile and made for a few decent snaps', parting with £8 standing fee and £10 for a seat hadn't deterred the foxes' faithful who were in fine voice in stark contrast to the Albion fan's who had seemingly arrived by minibus. 1-0 to Leicester.

Burton's pre-season thus far has been a mixed bag, triallist's have come and gone and some have even earned deal's for the new season, centre-back Marcus Holness arrived from Rochdale and Lee Bell from Crewe, a man incredibly who will make his third debut for Burton when the season kick's off. Leicester have also been quietly adding to their ranks with Richie De Laet and Matty James arriving from Manchester United and Jamie Vardy coming from Fleetwood it seem's no end's of the footballing spectrum are safe from Nigel Pearson's scouts.

Kicking off in the rather eye-catching new shirt's Leicester made the early running with Danny 'drinkeh' Drinkwater in the middle, another United recruit, pulling the strings alongside Neil Dann's. Burton began with the ageing Dele Adebola up front with ex-Leicester striker Billy Kee, Adebola on trial following a release by Hull City looked out of breath just watching Leicester skim the ball across the back four.

The deadlock was broken mid-way through the half as Leicester's pressure began to tell, Jeff Schlupp finishing a fine passing move to give Leicester the advantage going into half time. Straight from the re-start of the second half the home side began to push on, Robbie Weir's dart into the box was halted via a shove from Wes Morgan giving the new signing from Tranmere the opportunity to level the scores from the spot. Weir made no mistake and fired past Kasper Schmeichel to bring Burton back into the game.

Albion looked threatening going forward with Adi Yussuf, another ex-city player making Richie De Laet's evening a lot less pleasant. As the home side pressed the gaps at the back began to appear allowing Paul Gallagher to pick out Lloyd Dyer to head past a helpless Ross Atkins to restore the lead for Leicester.

Leicester began to relax as Championship class prevailed with Dann's firing a low shot past Atkin's to seal the win for city. All in all it was a brilliant evening's entertainment, both sides were committed and the game was played at a decent tempo with very little stoppages. Refereed well by FIFA World cup final referee Howard Webb (just to drop that in there) with decent banter between the supporters.

Burton certainly didn't disgrace themselves and played some good football with Leicester looking a well-organised outfit, all looking rather good for the season ahead.