Lee Hendrie hit his first goal for Leicester to give the Foxes a vital win over fellow strugglers Scunthorpe and ease their relegation fears in the Coca-Cola Championship.

The former Aston Villa man curled in an exquisite finish to cap a flowing move to give Ian Holloway's side three vital points and all but seal Scunthorpe's immediate return to League One.

Scunthorpe goalkeeper Joe Murphy brilliantly kept out a header from striker Steve Howard and three efforts from Matty Fryatt but had no chance with Hendrie's crisp 41st-minute strike.

Nigel Adkins' men toiled honestly all afternoon but never really looked like scoring and were reliant on the brilliance of Murphy to keep the score down.

Holloway's side play relegation rivals Colchester and Sheffield Wednesday in their remaining two home games and should now have enough to beat the drop.

Scunthorpe were dealt a blow before kick-off when top scorer Martin Paterson was ruled out through illness while David Bell made his debut for the Foxes after signing on loan from League One strugglers Luton on deadline day.

The match kicked off in a cyclone which threatened to make play extremely difficult but Fryatt went close inside 40 seconds when his attempted lob drifted over Murphy but wide from the edge of the area.

The ball spent the majority of the opening 20 minutes swirling around as both sides struggled to control possession but Leicester thought they had taken the lead in the 20th minute.

Fryatt did well to chase down a seemingly lost cause and play the ball back to left-back Joe Mattock.

The England Under-21 international delivered a perfect first-time cross which was met by a powerful Howard header from the centre of the penalty area.

The ball was heading for the bottom corner but Murphy somehow clawed it out.

And 10 minutes later Murphy repeated his heroics when another Mattock cross found Fryatt and his header was repelled by the sprawling goalkeeper.

But the breakthrough came when Bell fed the overlapping Richard Stearman down the right. His low cross was touched on by Howard to where Hendrie was arriving from the left.

Hendrie - on loan from Sheffield United - opened up his body and curled in a first-time finish which bent past Murphy and in off the far post.

Adkins' visitors started the second-half brightly and went close when substitute Ian Morris stole in at the far post to arrow a volley narrowly over.

Again the elements took centre stage as both sides battled away without any end product before Adkins sent on Paul Hayes and Matt Sparrow.

Leicester captain Stephen Clemence then came on to steady the ship but lasted just a few minutes before picking up an injury and having to be replaced.

The game then burst back into life in the last 10 minutes with Murphy saving his best saves for the death.

Bell found Fryatt with a dinked cross just six yards out and despite angling his header into the top corner Murphy somehow tipped it over for a corner.

And Hendrie then went close to a second when he found a yard of space on the corner of the area but bent his effort just wide of the far post.

Another Bell break then saw Fryatt smash a volley on target but the striker was yet again denied by the flying Murphy before the fourth official indicated a nervy five minutes of added time.

But the Iron were unable to salvage a point and now looked doomed.

Teams:

Leicester Henderson, Stearman, McAuley, Kisnorbo, Mattock,Bell, Oakley, Hendrie (Laczko 90), Wesolowski (Clemence 59),Fryatt, Howard, Clemence (N'Gotty 68).

Subs Not Used: James Chambers, Campbell.

Goals: Hendrie 41.

Scunthorpe Murphy, Byrne, Iriekpen, Butler,Baraclough (Hayes 66), Weston (Sparrow 66), Goodwin, McCann,Hurst (Morris 20), May, Horsfield.

Subs Not Used: Lillis, Hobbs.

Att: 22,165

Ref: Rob Shoebridge (Derbyshire).