Cranie up for derby battle.

Byline: ANDY TURNER 

MARTIN CRANIE is looking forward to playing in his first full derby game of his career tomorrow lunchtime.

He has been around long enough, though, to know what it means to the supporters, having seen both sides of the fierce south coast derby between Southampton and Portsmouth.

Starting his career with the Saints, he got a taste of the red-hot encounter with Pompey when he went on in the last minute and later made the bold switch from St Mary's to Fratton Park - a move that would normally not go down too well with the natives.

But he said: "Because I hadn't played a lot, I didn't really get that much stick.

"But the derby down there is probably the biggest one I have seen for the rivalry and stuff. So even though I haven't played in one properly, I have seen what they are like and I have heard a lot of people talking about tomorrow's game and I know the lads will be up for it and I am sure the fans will too.

"I think the local lads will be more aware of the rivalry but coming from down south, I don't know much about the Coventry/Leicester derby. But we will be up for it and out to get a good result."

The summer signing is expected to start against the Foxes when he hopes to re-establish himself in the side after a couple of games on the bench behind Jordan Clarke. He went on for the teenager at Watford on Tuesday night and is looking to get on again from the off.

"The gaffer had a chat with me and I know where I stand," said the 23-year-old. "It is not like I was left out without giving me a reason, so I understand the situation and hopefully I will be back in the team tomorrow."

As for his best position, he appears to be preferred at rightback following his first five games at centre-half.

"I have found all the way through my career that I have switched from centre-back to right-back so it doesn't really make much difference to me although I do prefer playing centre-back," he said. "Most of my games have been at right-back so I am comfortable there."

And at a time when the strikers are banging in the goals, he admits there is added pressure on the back four who have been leaking a few in recent weeks.

He added: "Most of the goals have been individual errors rather than great goals from the other teams, so if we can cut out those then we should do really well because obviously the strikers are on fire at the other end and I am sure we can push higher in this league.

"You can't practise cutting out errors on the training pitch and you are always going to get mistakes in games. Unfortunately the ones we are making are crucial ones at the minute and have led to the opposition scoring.

"But the mood is good at the moment. I was looking at the league table the other day and there are four or five teams above us who are just a point ahead of us, so if we get three points against Leicester and results go our way we could move into the play-offs."

And after scoring his first City goal against Sheffield United, Cranie hopes to strike again soon.

"Sammy Clingan has chipped in with a couple, but everyone has got to get some because we can't rely on the strikers all year," he said.

"My goal was my first professional league goal so I was delighted with it, and if I can chip in with a few more I will be very happy."

As for tomorrow's opposition, he said: "I played with Matty Fryatt a couple of times in the young age groups with England. He's definitely a threat - as we saw last season when he banged in a ton of goals. Being a derby, everyone is going to be up for it."

Tomorrow's opponents So who are they? Do they need an introduction? Well, it's been so long since we played them.

You had to mention it, didn't you? You know they are still sore about dropping out of English football's second tier for the first time in their history, made worse by the fact that it was us or them on the day. The Sky Blues were stuffed at Charlton and they drew 0-0 with Stoke and still went down.

Oh.....unlucky! Still, they bounced back at the first attempt didn't they? Yes, they're pretty good at that. In fact you could say they are a 'professional' yo-yo club. Only Birmingham City have been promoted and relegated between the top two divisions more than Leicester.

Any other records? They have made it to four FA Cup Finals and lost every one of them - this is a record for the most FA Cup appearances without winning a trophy.

So what's all the fuss about? Well, it's the M69 derby.

Although the Foxes see Forest and Derby as their main rivals, and Coventry traditionally Aston Villa, the clash has gained momentum in more recent years. According to a Football Pools survey in 2008, it is the 26th fiercest rivalry in English football.

Not that fierce then. Try telling that to the Sky Blue Army and the Baby Squad.

The what squad? Don't even go there. You know kick-off has been put back to 12.30pm so they don't get their full lunch-time feed.

So how do we usually do against them? Annoyingly, they have had the last laugh in recent years. Coventry have only beaten them once at home in the last five meetings, drawing three and losing the other, while losing all the away games.

Any players of note over the years? Arthur Chandler, the club's all-time record scorer with 273 goals, Frank McLintock, Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Gary Lineker and, umm, Djombo N'Guessan.

Who? Dany for short, which he's not. He's a 6ft 1ins tall pacy winger and product of the famous AJ Auxerre youth academy. He joined Rangers in 2005 after the Scottish giants had beaten off competition from Valencia, Marseille, Bordeaux and Man City for his signature.

Pretty good then. So what's he doing at Leicester? Don't start. He was an unused sub at Rangers eight times before going to Boston United on loan and then being sold to Lincoln City where he made a name for himself, scoring 14 goals in 73 games before being snapped up by Foxes' gaffer Nigel Pearson.

Wasn't he linked with the Coventry job before that nice man Mr Coleman got it? Yes, thank goodness he didn't get it. He's got a reputation for being a bit surly, particularly with the press.

Yes, but he's a good manager isn't he? I suppose so, he kept Southampton up on the last day of the season, ironically at the expense of Leicester who went down the same day in May 2008. Took charge of City the following month and led them to the League One title in his first season, and has got off to a decent start back in the Championship.

So how does his team set out? Four-four-two. His defence was the cornerstone of last season's success but they are currently without their best defender Aleksander Tunchev, and highly influential pounds 1million summer signing Ritchie Wellens missed Tuesday's gutsy win at Middlesbrough with tonsillitis. Matty Fryatt is their star striker. He scored 32 goals last term and already has eight this season.

Any celebrity fans? Coronation Street's Roy Cropper, aka actor David Neilson, described as "remarkably intelligent but socially naive".

Not your average Leicester fan then. Anyone else? David Icke!

That's more like it. What about famous sons and daughters of the city? Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England for nine days in 1553; Daniel Lambert, Leicester's largest son, weighing in at an incredible 52 stones at his death in 1809 after presumably eating all the pies; Joseph Merrick aka The Elephant Man and Gok Wan, presenter of TV show How to Look Good Naked.

Fans least likely to say: "Go girlfriend!" Most likely to say: "We had joy, we had fun, we had Forest on the run..."

CAPTION(S):

READY... Martin Cranie should get a recall in defence. KEY MOMENT... Leon Best has his shirt pulled, giving City a penalty in the last meeting with Leicester City, a 2-0 home win.