MARK Hughes will hardly be quaking in his boots at the prospect of facing Leicester City in the FA Cup quarter finals if the Foxes' performance at Burnley is a reliable indicator of what to expect at Ewood Park on Sunday.

Hughes' trusty lieutenant, Eddie Niedzwiecki, was at Turf Moor last night to cast his eye over Craig Levein's struggling Championship side and his scouting report should provide his boss with plenty of reasons for optimism as he attempts to steer Rovers into their first FA Cup semi final in nearly half a century.

Hughes, of course, is too long in the tooth to fall into the trap of underestimating City, who have already claimed one Premiership scalp in the Cup this season in the shape of Charlton Athletic on their way to the last eight.

Nevertheless, there was enough evidence here to suggest that Leicester will have to produce something out of the ordinary if their FA Cup journey is to continue beyond the weekend.

In fairness to Levein and his assistant Rob Kelly, a former coach at Rovers' Academy, Leicester are not a long ball side.

They do like to try and play football in the manner it should be played, through the midfield, albeit not particularly effectively.

Normally speaking, Levein is an advocate of 4-4-2 but with Dion Dublin and Danny Tiatto both absent through injury last night, he opted to start with a 3-5-2 formation to suit the personnel at his disposal, and his players did not exactly look comfortable with that system in a scrappy first half.

Encouragingly for Rovers, Leicester looked the kind of side that will give you chances and they were vulnerable when the ball was delivered into the box from wide areas.

Burnley had a number of chances from such scenarios and it was only inept finishing that prevented them from scoring.

In fact, Ian Moore should have put the Clarets in front after just 55 seconds when a huge gap suddenly opened up at the heart of Leicester's defence but Moore's touch was poor and the chance went begging.

At the opposite end, the Foxes did create one or two promising openings of their own in a timid first half but like their hosts, their finishing was hardly clinical and it was easy to see why they have struggled for goals in the league of late.

David Connolly, the former West Ham and Wimbledon striker, posed their biggest threat going forward but he failed to beat Brian Jensen when a golden opportunity came his way midway through the half.

Levein decided to revert to his favoured 4-4-2 formation at the beginning of the second half, with ex-Rover Keith Gillespie, a pale shadow of his former self, coming on to replace the speedy Jordan Stewart.

That gave Gareth Williams the licence to bomb forward and the central midfielder looked the most likely source of a Leicester goal during a second half that was just as tepid as the first had been.

Williams twice went close but the longer the half went on, the less Leicester looked like scoring.

Levein threw on Mark De Vries, a real giant of a striker, in the closing stages but even his towering presence failed to have the desired effect.

Instead, it was Burnley who looked the more likely winners and Graham Branch should have sealed the points for the Clarets in the closing stages when Leicester's defensive frailties were exposed once again, but he headed over from a great position.

Levein must now hope that either Dublin or Tiatto can recover in time to face Rovers on Sunday because their experience could be vital.

He will also be able to call on the former Aston Villa midfielder Joey Gudjonsson, who is available again after suspension.

But even that may not be enough for a Leicester side that looks decidedly ordinary on this evidence.

A place in the semi-finals beckons for Rovers if they play to their full potential.