Kelly is banking on cup to kick-start city again Manager Robert Kelly will be hoping today's FA Cup third-round tie with Fulham at the Walkers Stadium kick-starts Leicester City's season - as it did almost a year ago. Then, Kelly was facing his first game as caretaker boss against Southampton in the fourth round.
Craig Levein had been sacked three days earlier and he and Mike Stowell were left holding the fort.
It was not the best of starts, Kenwyne Jones scoring in the last minute to take the Saints through. But Kelly now sees it as a blessing in disguise, as City went on an impressive run to haul themselves away from the relegation zone.
He said: "I can hardly remember anything about that game because I was too well aware of what was coming up for us in the league as we tried to get out of the relegation frame.
"We had a tough trip to QPR in the midweek, which was by far a more important game, followed by Wolves at home then Brighton away.
"The last thing we needed was a draw and a replay because that would have made it far more difficult for us in the coming weeks. It is a funny thing but, in a strange way, that helped us.
"If we had had to go all the way down to Southampton with everything else that was going on, it would have been hard."
Those league games Kelly referred to were all victories, and that run turned the season for City as they moved well away from the drop zone in the end.
Not that Kelly goes into today's match feeling a defeat might be the recipe for success again. Far from it, because he also remembers the fillip of beating another Premiership side, Tottenham, at this stage last season, to prove what a morale booster the cup can be.
It would be a boost for Kelly too. With the Milan Mandaric takeover nearing completion, speculation abounds about his own position, with former Crystal Palace and Charlton boss Iain Dowie featuring prominently.
But, just as Kelly has kept the Mandaric takeover out of his thinking, he deals with any speculation the same way, concentrating on only the things he can influence.
Fulham is a big game, and important to the manager who relishes this competition. This time he wants the positive effect of a win to boost City's Championship chances, and would not view defeat in the same way he did on his managerial debut
we are doomed :icon_cry:
