Milestone goal for Vardy, but Foxes can’t make late dominance count
CONTROVERSIAL DECISIONS COST CITY AT AMEX STADIUM
LEICESTER City were left cursing their luck after controversial decisions saw them fall short of a valiant comeback at Brighton.
Trailing 2-0 with 50 minutes played, City twice scored what they thought were deserved equalisers, only for the linesman and VAR to rule Harvey Barnes had twice impeded Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez from an offside position.
If the first call was irritating, the second was infuriating, with the sightline of the Seagulls’ Spanish goalkeeper barely obstructed for either goal, but particularly not the latter.
City’s misfortune had actually begun in the first period when Brighton received a penalty for a handball by Jannik Vestergaard, even though replays showed the Dane was being hauled down by Neal Maupay when the ball struck his arm.
That incident was missed and Maupay was able to finish. That goal came in a period where City were at sixes and sevens, Brighton deservedly taking a lead into halftime, and adding to it just after the break as the zonal marking system allowed Danny Welbeck to head in a free-kick unmarked.
From there, City were excellent, piling on the pressure thanks to the influential substitute Ademola Lookman and his skilful wing play on the right, with an exquisite move finished by Jamie Vardy to set up a tense finale.
While City twice put the ball in the net, they were denied, and will hope they have used up a season’s worth of bad luck at once.
Manager Brendan Rodgers made five changes for the game, but did not simply reverse those he made in midweek, with Boubakary Soumare granted his first Premier League start after impressing against Napoli.
He lined up in a midfield three with Wilfred Ndidi and Youri Tielemans, with James Maddison brought back in on the right of a front three. Leading the line, Vardy became the first player to reach 250 Premier League appearances for the club.
City started reasonably well in terms of their control of their game, if not in creating chances, with their efforts limited to shots from the edge of the area.
But after about 15 minutes, they fell apart. They were totally disorganised at the back and out of ideas going forward, with a host of chances falling to the hosts.
Maupay had one blocked by Vestergaard, Solly March saw a shot saved by Kasper Schmeichel’s feet, and then Adam Lallana blazed over after a body feint had fooled the entire City defence.
When the first goal came from the penalty spot it was not undeserved, but the awarding was controversial. There was no doubt the ball struck Vestergaard’s arm, which had been raised, but somehow none of the officials at the game nor in Stockley Park saw that he was being hauled down by Maupay.
The Frenchman sent Schmeichel the wrong way from 12 yards.
If City had come out for the second period with renewed belief, it didn’t immediately as Welbeck waltzed in to flick a header into the corner.
But City did not lose their heads, and with second-half sub Ademola Lookman spurring them on, they were totally dominant for the final half hour.
The loanee from Leipzig played his part in the first goal, flicking the ball into Ricardo Pereira’s path, the ball laid back for Youri Tielemans to spin in a cross for Vardy to tap in.
It was his 150th goal for the club, the number nine becoming the first player since Arthur Rowley in the 1950s to reach the total.
Then came the first disallowed goal. A corner came in, Vestergaard missed the diving header and Lookman’s instinctive shot found its way to the corner. But the flag went up. Barnes was in Sanchez’s way.
Undeterred, City kept pushing, and Barnes nearly equalised when his deflected drive clipped the crossbar on the way over.
Then came the deja vu moment. Wilfred Ndidi rose highest and planted a header into the net. Again, Barnes was supposedly obstructing.
City kept knocking at the door but could not find a way through, and so they remain in the bottom half, having made their worst start under Rodgers.
They will have a chance to channel their fury into a midweek game as their Carabao Cup campaign begins at Millwall.