Leicester 3-0 Crystal Palace
- Published
Pearson won 55 of his 107 games the last time he was in charge at Leicester
Paul Gallagher scored twice as Nigel Pearson got his second spell as Leicester City manager off to a winning start against Crystal Palace.
Pearson, who left the club last year, returned this week following Sven-Goran Eriksson's dismissal.
After a dismal first half, Jermaine Beckford opened the scoring with a shot inside the area on 55 minutes.
Gallagher made the points safe in the final quarter with two long-range efforts in the space of four minutes.
It means Leicester move level on points with Palace, who have now not scored in their last four Championship matches.
After missing a couple of easy first-half chances, Beckford finally made amends after the break when he was played through by Richie Wellens to shoot home.
Pearson pleased with Foxes return
The former Leeds striker had a chance to double his side's lead immediately after when he picked up a loose ball but after going clean through on goal, his tame effort was comfortably saved by Julian Speroni.
His miss nearly came back to haunt Leicester but Kagisho Dikgacoi blazed over from close range, while debutant Chris Martin - on-loan from Norwich - had a bullet header saved by Kasper Schmeichel just minutes after coming on.
The Foxes weathered the storm and Gallagher and Wellens both forced Speroni into action before the former doubled his side's lead in the 71st minute.
There looked to be little danger when he picked up the ball 25 yards from goal but after being given room to manoeuvre, the winger curled delightfully into the top-right corner.
High on confidence, Gallagher settled matters three minutes later with another exquisite strike, this time his first-time blast from long range rocketed past a despairing Speroni.