"One of my favourite nights in football!"

Sam Szmodics is hopeful he’ll be able to create some more magic memories against Leicester City this weekend after admitting his last game against the Foxes remains one of his career highlights.

The game Szmodics reflects fondly on is, of course, the memorable 2-1 win against the then Premier League side in the Emirates FA Cup back in early March, with Szmodics netting the match-winning moment at the King Power Stadium.

Szmodics struck early in the second half to make it 2-0 in the East Midlands after Tyrhys Dolan’s opener, with Kelechi Iheanacho pulling a goal back for the hosts later in the second half, which counted for nothing as Rovers impressed on the road with one of their best displays in 2022-23.

A lot has changed for the Foxes in the six months since, with City suffering relegation at the end of last term, but they’ve enjoyed an excellent start to the new term under the leadership of Enzo Maresca and currently occupy first place in the Sky bet Championship with seven wins from their opening eight games.

“It was a great evening and probably one of my favourite nights in football,” Szmodics said to RoversTV when looking back on that memorable night in March.

“With the win and the travelling fans, the goal and getting the Player of the Match, it was a really special evening for me, the players and the whole club.

“They’re a huge club, they were a Premier League club at the time and I thought we went there and produced one of the best performances we’ve ever had. I think the scoreline could have been more and it brings back good memories.

“I’ve watched the goal so many times, I remember Gally [Sam Gallagher] winning a tackle and playing me through. I sort of wriggled through two people and slotted it in with my left foot.

“As soon as it left my foot, I knew it was trickling over the line. That was the start of when I hit that purple patch of form, coming after I scored at QPR the game before," he recollected.

“I scored at Leicester and it kept on going from there. It was a real starting point to my Rovers career at Leicester that night.

“I did it at Leicester, I did it at Sheffield United and I did it at Preston, which all felt important goals in those moments. There are goals that stick out and are remembered and I hope I can chip in again this season."