Sporting Leicester give Forest 'free goal' for cup tie

LONDON, Sep 19 (Reuters) Leicester City gave Nottingham Forest a ''free goal'' at the City Ground before winning their League Cup second-round tie 3-2.

The unusual act of sportsmanship came about after the original tie between the clubs last month was abandoned at halftime when Leicester player Clive Clarke suffered a heart attack.

Forest were leading 1-0 at the time and Leicester's players decided that when the match was replayed they would allow Forest to score straight from the kickoff yesterday.

Goalkeeper Paul Smith dribbled the ball towards goal unopposed to put third division Forest 1-0 up.

''We just felt it was the right thing to do,'' new Leicester manager Gary Megson told the club's Web site.

''The first game ended in tragic circumstances with Clive's heart attack... but the rules say that Forest would have been perfectly entitled to play out the game.

''I wasn't at the original game but I was told that Forest were well on top and it could have been all over at halftime.'' Megson, who joined Leicester last week, said Smith was only told he was going to be the player to score when the coin was tossed to start the game, ruling out any chances of improper gambling.

REUTERS BJR HT1435