It has taken seven-and-a-half years, but the Walkers Stadium is finally beginning to feel like home to me.

Not that I live there, of course, although it sometimes feels as though I do.

The familiar walk down Raw Dykes Road, punctuated on Saturday by blaring police sirens, is now made in expectation as well as hope. In short, these are great times to be a Leicester City fan.

Towards the end of the reign of Micky Adams and subsequently under Craig Levein, Rob Kelly and, in particular, Ian Holloway , City fans grew accustomed to the sight of opposition sides knocking the ball about comfortably on our pitch.

It is something which has, thankfully, become a rare sight under Nigel Pearson.

Twice in a fortnight, top-six teams have arrived at the Walkers full of intent and twice they have been sent packing with no points and no goals to their name.

This encounter with Cardiff City certainly felt like a low-key affair in comparison to the hysteria caused by three quickfire goals against Nottingham Forest, but victory was no less important.

The loss of a vastly experienced centre-half for such a crucial game would be extremely damaging for most teams and Wayne Brown's replacement, Alex Bruce, also succumbed to injury early in the game.

Lest we forget, we have had to cope without an accomplished international defender for more than 12 months.

While we have Jack Hobbs and Michael Morrison in their current form, none of this will matter.

Hobbs, in particular, deserves all the praise in the world for the way he dealt with the threat of Jay Bothroyd.

All City fans can say is thank you very much Mr Benitez.

While he needs to impress for many years to invite suggestions that he could have made the grade at Anfield, Hobbs looks every inch a future Premier League footballer.

Whether he gets there or not, with City or someone else, he is a joy to watch at this level and Bothroyd could not have endured a more difficult day at the office all season.

As a former centre-half of fine repute himself, Pearson must take great credit for the assured displays of both Hobbs and Morrison, and the boss is no doubt enjoying watching his protégés in action.

The exuberance of youth will be vital as the season's end draws ever nearer.

While more experienced campaigners such as Richie Wellens and Bruno Berner clearly have important roles to play with the pressure building to maintain our promotion push, the long-term future looks to be in safe hands.