Following the disappointment of last Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester City have had a week to reflect on the performance and recharge their batteries ahead of this weekend’s contest with Cardiff City at the Walkers Stadium.

After the euphoria of beating Nottingham Forest 3-0, the Hillsborough defeat was a blow to City manager, Nigel Pearson who wasn’t happy with the display, but isn’t going to panic.

“It was a pretty sub-standard performance and disappointing bearing in mind we’d had such a good February. But, we’re still well placed and this season we’ve had a number of setbacks. What’s important is that we keep the focus on what we’re trying to do. We’ve worked hard to get ourselves in this position and we have to make sure that we keep our focus now.

“We didn’t really give ourselves the best chance of getting anything out of the game and I think Wednesday deserved their win. It’s not too often that we’ve had to say that about ourselves this season. It was not our best day out, let’s put it like that.”

Probably one of the most level-headed managers in the division, Nigel revealed that he tries not to bask in the glory of victory or dwell on defeat.

“I think it’s dangerous to get wrapped up in the euphoria of wins too much and likewise with defeat. You always have to analyse the games, of course you do, and when you perform badly you can’t just sweep it under the carpet. You’ve got to look at what’s not been particularly good and how to rectify it.

“But, it moves on because the games come quickly. If you looked at the majority of the teams in this league this year, they’ve gone through spells when it’s not gone quite to plan. It’s always very easy to be over critical but I think generally speaking we’ve competed very well this year.

“There have been occasions when we’ve let ourselves down and there have been other occasions when we’ve been outplayed. What you’ve got to do is be brutally honest with that. But, we look forward to the next game, the mood is good in the camp and I’ve got every confidence in the players.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s contest with play-off rivals Cardiff, Pearson is relishing the chance to play in front of the home fans and is expecting a tough test against The Bluebirds.

“It’s always good to be at home. We know it’s a big game for both teams and we’re both in very similar positions and have been for a large part of the season. They’ve scored a lot of goals this season, as we found to our expense when we went down there in the FA Cup. But, it was a much tighter game than the scoreline suggested and certainly for long periods we were in control. It shows that they are a potent force.”

To improve City’s attacking options and bolster the club’s promotion hopes, Pearson has been active in the transfer market this week, bringing in Everton striker James Vaughan on a one month loan deal. A player he worked with whilst coaching the England Under 21 team, Nigel is delighted with the signing.

“He’s a player that we’ve considered as a good signing for us for quite a long time. I think what you’ve got to always do is look at what the player brings. I think at this stage of the season for us to get a player from a Premier League club is important. He’s aggressive, he’s got a bit of pace about him and he’s very, very brave. That can only bring positive things to the squad and it compliments what we’ve already got.

“He’s a player that I know they hold in a very high regard at Everton, but they’ve got one or two players that have recovered from injury which has freed up the opportunity to take him on loan and that’s good for us. It gives us more options again, which for this final part of the season is important. He’s a player that I know will make a big difference and I think he’ll add a different dimension.”

Vaughan’s arrival is a timely one with news this week that top scorer Matty Fryatt has lost almost two stone during his time out injured. Pearson met with Matty earlier in the week and revealed that the 24-year-old remains in good spirits, even though the weight loss is likely to extend his time out of the side.

“He’s never been a porker! But, for him to lose 19lbs illustrates how difficult it’s been for him to take any sort of fuel on board. As it was a double fracture his jaw has been wired together which makes eating pretty problematic. I suppose the worse thing about it is the muscle mass he’s losing.

“It potentially extends the recovery time because he’s got to rebuild his muscle mass. For the first four weeks with a fracture like that, it’s very important that you give it the best opportunity to heal. He’s fine though, I saw him on Monday and he can nearly smile now.”

One reason to smile has been the recent performances of City’s reserve side. Gerry Taggart’s second string thumped Scunthorpe United 5-0 in the totesport.com Cup semi-final and Pearson sees the experience as vital to the development of the younger players.

“It’s good because currently we’re not in a reserves league so it’s difficult to get a lot of games for a number of our players, which is why we’ve got eight players currently out on loan and that gives them the opportunity to play.

“When you’ve got that many effectively reserve players out on loan, the opportunity then comes for the youngsters to play in a game like the one against Scunny. It’s very pleasing and a good result for them and it just adds to their development.”

To buy tickets for this Saturday’s 3pm kick-off against Cardiff, visit the tickets section of the official Leicester City website.