Leicester City finally got off the mark against Bournemouth, but it wasn’t an entirely perfect afternoon for the Foxes as a 288-game streak ended.
Facundo Buonanotte’s first-half strike was the difference between the two as Leicester earned their first Premier League win of the season and took some of the pressure off manager Steve Cooper.
It was a huge three points before a run of three fixtures after the October international break that could see the East Midlanders pull away from the bottom three.
But while it was all smiles at the King Power Stadium, there was still some disappointment after one incredible run came to an end.
Leicester City fail to name academy graduate in a matchday squad for the first time in six years
The Foxes have had a proud history of bringing players through the academy and have developed talents such as Ben Chilwell, Harvey Barnes, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Hamza Choudhury, Kasey McAteer, and Will Alves, among others, are still at the club and it was Choudhury that started the run.
Choudhury’s appearance in the 2018 League Cup quarter-final tie against Manchester City was the start of a 288-game streak that saw an academy player named in every matchday squad.
Sadly though, Choudhury’s recent injury meant he was out of the squad last weekend and that the six-year run was no more just weeks after a run of 147 games in which an academy player was on the pitch for Leicester came to an end against Everton.
There was some frustration from supporters as it was a record to be proud of, with some supporters questioning why Cooper didn’t opt to use one of the nine places on the bench for an academy player to take and keep the run going.
Steve Cooper ‘obsessed’ with the idea of beating Southampton
For Leicester now, it’s about looking forward rather than looking back and the next step is a relegation six-pointer against Southampton.
A win away from home would be a huge step in the right direction and back-to-back league wins may help to improve his stock in the fanbase and Cooper wants his side to be fully focused on earning themselves another three points.
The Leicester boss said: “I’ve seen many win here, I would have loved for it to be sooner, we know that. We could have done some things better but we’ve also been unlucky, so I’m just glad everything went well.
“It’s great to win but we have a lot of work to do to be a force.
“It’s an international break and the work continues and now we need to be completely obsessed with beating Southampton in a couple of weeks.”