David Nugent's brace inflicted a 2-1 defeat on the Reds on Saturday as they slipped to the bottom of the league with a record of seven losses for nine games.

After promising 'surgery' to his team following the 5-1 home loss to Watford, manager David Flitcroft dropped captain Stephen Dawson, scorer Jason Scotland, Kelvin Etuhu and Tom Kennedy, although the latter came back in after Peter Ramage was injured in the warm-up. Jacob Mellis was left out of the squad as was Chris Dagnall but Mellis moved onto the bench after Ramage was withdrawn.

Into the side came new signings Jack Butland, who replaced the injured Luke Steele, and David Fox who played in central midfield with David Perkins in between wingers Paddy McCourt and Dale Jennings. Jean Yves M'Voto and Reuben Noble-Lazarus also came into back five.

Scott Wiseman had a goal ruled out for offside on 21 minutes after a fine run by McCourt. But Leicester then missed several fine chances including a one-on-one which Lloyd Dyer put wide. The hosts had a strong appeal for a penalty on 45 minutes when M'Voto tackled Anthony Knockaert but the referee did not give it.

Nugent netted five minutes into the second half with a cool finish after collecting a pass from Dyer. The England international then made it 2-0 12 minutes later after Jamie Vardy was tripped in the box by Butland, who was yellow carded.

It looked as though the Reds could be on the end of another thrashing but halved the deficit when substitute Jason Scotland headed in Kennedy's cross. Martin Cranie then forced a fantastic save from Kasper Schmeichel from Kennedy's corner.