Leicester displayed further evidence of their stubborn determination to keep on course for Wembley in both cup competitions after holding Aston Villa to a goalless draw in the first leg of this Worthington Cup semi-final at Villa Park.

But Martin O'Neill's side may earn few plaudits outside Filbert Street for their dogged determination and resilience.

Indeed, they were taunted with chants of "boring, boring Leicester" as the frustrated Holte End echoed the feelings of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger after he saw the Gunners fall victim to the Foxes' survival instincts in the FA Cup last week.

On that occasion, Leicester went through on penalties - just as they did when beating Fulham and Leeds this season - but they only reached that stage due to the brilliance of England hopeful Tim Flowers.

And Leicester were again indebted to the former Blackburn keeper, who was at the centre of the one compelling moment of a dour game.

Late in the game Gareth Southgate turned and volleyed powerfully from close range but Flowers was equal to it and he showed incredible reactions to block the fierce shot.

That was as close as Villa, who dominated the game but failed to create more than a couple of clear-cut openings, came to scoring and whatever the methods employed by Leicester, they achieved their main objective.

At times it was inspired in the case of Flowers' save, at times it was physical in the case of Emile Heskey's elbow into Gareth Barry's head.

But mostly it was just typical Leicester, a side imbibed with a competitive will to win that is virtually unmatched in the Premiership and with a defensive resilience that a Villa side, who only came to life in the second-half, found impossible to break down.

However, in a first-half devoid of inspiration without a single meaningful shot on target, it had been difficult to imagine that a place at Wembley against a First Division side and a possible place in the UEFA Cup was actually at stake.

The visitors were able to welcome back a whole host of their recent injury victims yet they still had to start with centre-back Matt Elliott in an emergency forward role.

Villa also had striker problems and with Julian Joachim up front on his own they were dominating the congested midfield area but failing to find enough width to pierce Leicester defence.

Indeed, the main talking point was the 25th-minute yellow card shown to Heskey, who had earned the wrath of Villa boss John Gregory at Filbert Street earlier this season for being a 'conman' for his part in Southgate's sending-off.

This time around the centre-forward left Barry poleaxed as he went in for a challenge leading with his elbow.

And then he went down easily under Ugo Ehiogu's challenge - requiring keeper David James to react smartly to parry Stefan Oakes' dead-ball effort.

That was about it for goalmouth action though, and when Joachim finally got the sniff of a chance five minutes before the break, his shot summed up the entire first-half - woeful.

Heskey was in the wars again soon after the restart, first going down clutching his hamstring after slipping on the turn and then needing further treatment after a painful clash of heads with Ehiogu.

With Leicester showing slightly more attacking intent as Elliott volleyed wide on the turn, Merson, who had initially pushed forward to support Joachim, resumed his midfield role.

That was because 22-year-old reserve team striker Richard Walker had come on for only his second first-team outing and his appearance coincided with Villa finally injecting some urgency into their play.

Indeed, after Joachim had shot at Flowers, midfielder Ian Taylor stooped to head Merson's low cross towards the far post only for the ball to spin narrowly wide as Walker just failed to get on the end of it.

Walker then headed on a free-kick to Southgate, whose volley was amazingly saved by Flowers from virtually point-blank range and Taylor headed the rebound over the bar.

With Steve Walsh now playing up front and Elliott reverting to the back three, Leicester had a total of five central defenders on the pitch and they were mounting a characteristically determined rearguard action.

The home side may have had Leicester virtually imprisoned inside their own half until the end but they held on - and Villa can surely expect to face similarly dogged opposition in the second leg in a week's time.

Teams

Aston Villa: James, Ehiogu, Southgate, Barry, Watson (Walker 57), Taylor, Boateng, Stone (Delaney 57),Wright, Joachim, Merson.

Subs Not Used: Thompson, Calderwood, Cutler.

Leicester: Flowers, Taggart, Gilchrist, Guppy (Zagorakis 64), Savage, Izzet (Walsh 73), Impey (Campbell 83), Sinclair, Oakes,Heskey, Elliott.

Subs Not Used: Fenton, Arphexad.

Booked: Heskey.

Att: 28,037

Ref: T Heilbron (Newton Aycliffe).