Leicester moved up to fifth in the Championship with a 1-0 victory over Reading at the Madejski Stadium.
Waghorn header condemns Reading to fourth straight defeat
Leicester moved up to fifth in the Championship with a 1-0 victory over Reading at the Madejski Stadium.
The Royals carved out a number of good chances in the first half but were made to pay for squandering those opportunities when Martyn Waghorn headed home Matt Oakley's corner just before the interval.
Reading applied more pressure in the second half as they went in search of an equaliser but their finishing was not clinical enough as Nigel Pearson's men held on in a tense finale.
Brendan Rodgers' side, meanwhile, remain without a win at home since January and a fourth straight defeat leaves them languishing in the relegation zone.
No Cutting edge
Reading have lost Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt, Leroy Lita, Andre Bikey and James Harper among others since failing to win promotion last May and look desperately short of a cutting edge.
Simon Church, Jobi McAnuff and Grzegorz Rasiak all had presentable chances in a bright opening before Reading should have taken the lead in the 25th minute.
Church released McAnuff and after outpacing the Leicester defence the winger hit a shot down into the turf which bounced past goalkeeper Chris Weale and into the far post.
McAnuff reacted well to hit the rebound toward goal but left-back Ryan McGivern made a fine block to keep the ball out.
The officials somehow awarded a goal-kick to the fury of the home crowd and Paul Gallagher came close to increasing the sense of injustice when he curled a shot onto the roof of the net after a rare Leicester break.
Church then wasted the best chance of the half when Rasiak's flick sent him in on goal but the Wales international dragged his shot wide of Weale's post.
Denied
Church was denied by an excellent save from Weale moments later after an elaborate corner routine fell to him inside the area and had time for another shot off target before half-time.
Reading had dominated for a spell of 30 minutes but predictably it was Leicester who forged ahead in the final minute of the half.
Oakley delivered a corner from the right and Waghorn got ahead of Gylfi Sigurdsson to flick a header over Adam Federici and into the net.
Church missed another golden chance five minutes after the restart when he scuffed into the side-netting but Matty Fryatt could have doubled the lead at the other end when he beat the offside trap but could not beat Federici.
Reading's lack of a predatory goalscorer was again highlighted when McAnuff and then Ryan Bertrand cut balls across the face of a vacant goal as the crowd began to turn on Rodgers.
Substitute Jimmy Kebe then squared for Rasiak to spurn a final opportunity as Leicester held on for the win.
