KANE & VARDY CANNOT KNOCK DEADLY WOOD

CHRIS WOOD once kept Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane out of the Leicester team – but insists he has no regrets about leaving.

The New Zealand striker (above) is leading Burnley’s charge to qualify for

Europe for the first time since the 1960s, while

Vardy and Leicester are the opponents at Turf Moor today.

Wood spent just over two years at the King Power Stadium before moving on to Leeds, frustrated by a lack of game-time.

But he was indirectly responsible for one of the most famous football photographs of recent years because he helped keep Vardy and Kane on the bench for a key Championship play-off game.

Wood and David Nugent got the nod ahead of the current England strikers for a semi-final, second leg at Watford in 2013.

That was before Kane made his name at Tottenham and Vardy Turf Moor: 3pm became the key figure in Leicester’s astonishing Premier League title triumph under Claudio Ranieri two years ago.

Wood said: “Jamie was starting to build his profile when I left and it’s just gone on to a bigger level.

“He’s a great player. I was fortunate enough to learn from him quite close. He runs in behind. He works hard.

“He’s got bags of pace which I don’t have. I’d love it if I did have his pace, then I’d be a very good striker.”

Wood, who joined Burnley from Leeds for £15million last August, has hit top form, with four goals in his past four games, and believes he made the right decision to leave Leicester – a year before they won the title.

He said: “I was in the stands for most of that season and I hated it.

“I was happy for them when they did win the title but I know if I’d have stayed there I would’ve been in the stands the whole time.

“It wouldn’t have really been my title because I wouldn’t have contributed.”

Burnley have won their past four league matches, with Sean Dyche picking up his first Premier League manager of the month award as a result.

The Clarets have not won five in a row in the top flight since 1968, and

Dyche said: “It’s a sign of how well the players and the staff have done.

“In the Premier League, it’s very difficult to win it, so that’s fantastic work from my staff and the players.”