The omens were not great even before a ball had been kicked for the Leicester City fans swarming into their local for last night's clash with Newcastle United.

The first shirt in view at the bar was unmistakably black and white with the Newcastle fan squeezed into it predicting: "We'll win tonight and go top."

It was a pretty defiant statement from the brave boy. And, to be fair to him, a look at the past meetings between the clubs backed up what he was saying.

Leicester's record going into the game was poor to say the least, losing 37 of the 57 matches played at St James' and winning just seven.

City have also failed to score any goals in the first half of a Championship game this season.

And that would come back to haunt them last night.

Even some of the Toon Army watching the action had to acknowledge that City had the better chances in the first half with Steve Howard denied by Steve Harper and Matty Fryatt missing wastefully from 12 yards.

The problem was that, if the City fans had not been nursing their pints and living every second of the encounter, it would have been difficult to make out the visitors' contribution to the rain-soaked affair from the television coverage.

The story being told by Sky was almost exclusively a Newcastle one .

There was talk of a takeover by three Americans, numerous camera angles of Alan Shearer in the stands as well as shots of current owner Mike Ashley and potential buyer Barry Moat.

The Leicester story of a club punching its weight with the Championship big boys 15 months after slipping into League One obscurity hardly seemed worth telling amid all the focus on the home club.

And, to make matters worse, it was an ex-Forest player, Garry Birtles, doing the summarising.

So thumbs down to the Newcastle slant, but you cannot fault the coverage.

And one thing the numerous slow-motion replays did offer was all the proof needed that City had a lucky escape in the first half when Wayne Brown and Bruno Berner could not decide on who was going to deal with the ball in the penalty area and it bounced up to strike Brown's wrist. A collective sigh of relief from everyone watching.

With Fryatt's miss still on everyone's lips, the hopes were high in the second half.

But, when Danny Guthrie struck a fine goal for Newcastle, the mood in the pub changed and grew gloomier when the outstanding Nile Ranger threatened to conjure up a second goal for the home side.

As the minutes ticked away, some City fans started to leave, using an early-morning start back to work after the Bank Holiday as a reason.

The ones who had a little more faith stayed to the bitter end but, for all their huffing and puffing, City could not force a breakthrough.

And, just when the City fans thought things could not get any worse, the landlord confessed the Bank Holiday had taken its toll on his supply of Old Speckled Hen. Not a drop left in the cellar.

Time to call it a night then.