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No finger of blame at Kasper Schmeichel, says Leicester City team-mate Zak Whitbread

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Leicester City defender Zak Whitbread said there will be no finger-pointing after a mix-up between him and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel during the draw with Barnsley.

Schmeichel's wayward pass to Whitbread fell straight at the feet of Barnsley's James O'Brian in Saturday's Championship match, and it led to Stephen Dawson firing home for the visitors to make it 1-1.

A second goal from Reuben Noble-Lazarus made it 2-1 to Barnsley going into half-time.

A last-ditch strike from substitute Jamie Vardy, courtesy of a knock-down header from Whitbread, snatched a late point for City.

But despite Schmeichel's costly first-half error, Whitbread said it will not be a case of lumping the blame on to the City goalkeeper.

"We won't point fingers," said the 28-year-old centre-back.

"It isn't just one player's mistake. If someone makes a mistake, the rest of the team will take the weight with them.

"Kasper has been top-drawer this season and a small error like that will not affect him.

"He is a strong character. His kicking is one of the best in the world, so no-one is going to get on to him for that."

The point sees City slip down to fifth in the Championship table, but they sit just four points off the automatic promotion places.

Whitbread admitted that City should be beating sides like Barnsley.

"Yes, we should, but they are not always the easiest," he said. "I always say the big games look after themselves.

"No disrespect to Barnsley, but they haven't been on the best of runs. Fair play to them, they came and did what they had to do to get a result.

"They stopped our style of play and mixed things up. It worked for them, but we should have done more to counter that."

Whitbread added that it was vital, after taking the early lead through Anthony Knockaert, that City had maintained the pressure on their opponents.

"In games like that, when you go a goal up early, you really need to keep your foot on the pedal and keep dictating the game, keeping the tempo and the standards in which we started the game," he said.

"To come away not beaten is a positive but, in the dressing room afterwards, it didn't feel like we got a last-minute equaliser. That is credit to the lads, because we want to win every game.

"At home, we have set high standards and we want to maintain them. A couple of decisions didn't go our way and we could have had a couple of penalties. There were a few scrambles in the box.

"Credit to the lads that we didn't stop and that is a sign of a good team, when you don't get beat and get a last-minute equaliser.

"That could be a big point for us at the end of the season."

Leicester City's under-18s face a stiff test in the FA Youth Cup tonight (7.0) when they take on Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.

City face a Rovers team that reached the final last season, and academy director Jon Rudkin is not expecting it to be easy.

He said: "It is a good competition and every team wants to win it. We know how difficult it will be"

No finger of blame at Kasper Schmeichel, says Leicester City team-mate Zak Whitbread


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