A double from Ryan Fraser, plus goals from Joshua King and Adam Smith ensured the south coast outfit recorded three points.

And following the game, Howe reflected on the following points…

The performance

“I’m very pleased. Today was a very difficult game, Leicester are a difficult team to play against because they have athletic players in their side.

“While we weren’t at our absolute best, we had to show spells of that and I thought we were disciplined and very ruthless in front of goal.”

The attack

“We’ve created lots of chances and haven’t been taking them so it’s good to see that change in our performance today.  

“The majority of our defending throughout the game was good too, but we can learn a lot from the last period of play.

“When they scored their first, we needed a better reaction. The mindset should be to keep clean sheets and I don’t think we used the ball enough when we had the advantage in the final part of the game.”

Fraser’s form

“We were always confident he would be fit for the game, it’s was just a case of managing his training and he looked fresh today which is great.  

“He can go wherever he wants to go, with his age, attitude, he has a really bright future. The key thing for him is believing how good he is and he’s reinforcing that himself with his goal and performance." 

The squad

“Adam Smith has got a great attitude to life and football, and he’s a really positive guy in the dressing room. He never moans when I’ve played him out of position, and he’s got his rewards for that in his career by playing at the level he is.

“The players here all look fit and that’s shown in the work they’ve put in during the international break. They’ve shown a really good attitude and that showed today.”