Coventry let themselves down at the Walkers Stadium as Mark De Vries scores twice to cancel out Gary McSheffrey's opener.
McSheffrey scored his second goal in as many games as City took the early initiative but De Vries scored a minute either side of the interval to give his team all three points.
Micky Adams was forced into one change for the game at his former club Leicester, with Clayton Ince making his league debut for the Sky Blues after the departure of Stephen Bywater.
There were good receptions from the Foxes fans for Coventry's contingent of ex-Leicester players as James Scowcroft, Matt Heath and most notably Lilian Nalis all received warm rounds of applause from the home support.
But there was little goalmouth action inside the first 15 minutes to keep them entertained, with Leicester pushing forward the most although City were enjoying lengthy spells of possession albeit without hurting their opponents.
With 17 minutes played, Coventry had huge shouts for a penalty turned down by the referee when Gary McSheffrey - playing up front alongside Dele Adebola - went chasing a long throughball only to be sent tumbling under a challenge from behind by Paddy McCarthy which match official Kevin Wright deemed as being legal.
This was City's cue to take the initiative and they came close to breaking the deadlock in the 21st minute when Doyle robbed Stearman of the ball and put a low cross in which McCarthy did well to divert over his own crossbar with Adebola in close proximity.
And in the 24th minute Adebola used all his pace and power to create the opening goal for McSheffrey. Played away down the right hand side, the big man surged forward taking on ex-City striker Dion Dublin and playing a precise pass into McSheffrey's feet who rifled his shot into the roof of the net from close range.
It was a deserved lead for City but the goal seemed to spur a sluggish-looking Leicester into action. On the half hour, Momo Sylla shot from 25 yards after a rapid breakaway, but his effort was straight at Ince who saved comfortably. Next it was diminutive striker Ian Hume who shot on goal after another pacy counter attack but his volley just went wide of the far post.
In the 36th minute McSheffrey was booked after he went looking for another penalty under a challenge from keeper Rab Douglas but the referee showed him a yellow card for diving. It was his fifth booking of the season meaning he will miss the Stoke game a week on Wednesday.
Joey Gudjonsson then tested Ince from long range but the Trinidadian appeared to be up to the challenge and got down well to the Icelandic's fiercely struck volley. As the half came to an end Leicester got closer to an equaliser - Hume fired straight at Ince from 15 yards in the 43rd - and in stoppage time Coventry finally conceded.
The ball was bobbling around the penalty area and City could not clear their lines following a long throw-in, allowing De Vries to head into the net with Ince stranded off his line.
Coventry's poor end to the first half continued into the second and in the 46th minute Leicester were ahead when De Vries stabbed the ball home from a Momo Sylla corner despite the efforts of Duffy and Ince to prevent the ball from crossing the line. While there was some doubt on whether the goal was legitimate or not, City only had themselves to blame though, having conceded possession sloppily from their own kick-off at the start of the second period, allowing Leicester to come straight at them.
It was one-way traffic at this point as the Foxes looked to extend their lead and Ince pulled off a fine save from a low Iain Hume drive to keep his team in it with half an hour to go. The lively youngster then fired just wide after streaking free of Richard Shaw as City hung on for dear life.
Micky Adams reacted by making a double switch as Andy Whing replaced Duffy and Andy Morrell came on for the unusually quiet Lilian Nalis who had done little to show his old supporters what they were missing.
The game then entered a dreary spell where neither side looked like scoring and while it was the Sky Blues of course who were more seriously in need of finding the back of the net, Leicester came out of the rut the quickest and Joe Hamill produced another stunning stop from Ince in the 77th minute.
Morrell then forced a good save from Douglas who had been very quiet in the Foxes goal since the start of the second half - the City man stooped to head a Hall cross towards the bottom corner but saw his effort tipped wide
Unfortunately that was all the Sky Blues could offer in a desperately disappointing second hal performance where they let their local rivals off lightly, rarely threatening to get back into the match after going behind.
Leicester: Douglas; Stearman; McCarthy; Dublin; Johansson; Sylla; Gudjonsson; Kisnorbo; Hamill (Tiatto 82); Hume (Hammond 87); De Vries. Subs: (not used) Henderson; Maybury; Gerrbrand
Booked: Gudjonsson (21)
Coventry: Ince; Hall; Hughes; Duffy (Whing 67); Scowcroft; Heath; Shaw; Doyle; Nalis (Morrell 67); Adebola; McSheffrey. Subs (not used): Tuffey; Watson; Impey
Booked: McSheffrey (36); Scowcroft (38)
Referee: Mr Kevin Wright
Attendance: 22,991 (2,167)
