The Borneo Post

Vardy off but Leicester rally to hold Stoke

-

STOKE- ON-TRENT, United Kingdom: Claudio Ranieri lost Jamie Vardy and his own composure, but saw 10- man Leicester City display the spirit of champions in a 2-2 draw at Stoke City on Saturday.

Daniel Amartey completed the comeback in the 88th minute as he rose between two defenders to head home a Christian Fuchs cross and earn Leicester a crucial point after they had played for 62 minutes without Vardy.

Referee Craig Pawson, widely criticised for his failure to send off Manchester United’s Marcos Rojo at Crystal Palace in mid-week, dismissed Vardy for a similar two-footed challenge.

He also showed Leicester five yellow cards in the final seven minutes of the first half, leading to tempestuou­s scenes at the interval.

Vardy was dismissed, for the third time in his career, on 28 minutes after launching himself into a challenge on Mame Biram Diouf with his studs showing.

It was a contentiou­s decision and led to a Leicester meltdown, plus two goals for the home team.

Danny Simpson was booked after conceding a penalty for handball, from which Bojan Krkic gave Stoke a 39th-minute lead.

Four Leicester players followed Simpson into the book in the final seven minutes of the half: Islam Slimani, Andy King, Fuchs and Marc Albrighton.

After Pawson blew the halftime whistle numerous visiting players, and Ranieri, approached the official, who was surrounded by security personnel.

Ranieri, the veteran Leicester manager, had to be hauled away by his players, while City coach Mike Stowell restrained Slimani, who was leading the players’ protests.

It was a scene that could yet lead to disciplina­ry action by the Football Associatio­n.

In addition, furious Leicester supporters, gathered in the corner of the ground where the tunnel is situated, had to be held back by stewards as Pawson headed into the dressing room.

It appeared that objects were also thrown in the of ficials’ direction.

On the field, the opening goal followed 11 minutes after Vardy’s dismissal when Simpson slid in to try and intercept Bojan’s cross from the left- hand byline and handled.

The Spaniard took the resulting penalty himself and slotted the ball low into the bottom-left corner of Kasper Schmeichel’s goal.

Stoke doubled their lead in injury time when Giannelli Imbula received a short free-kick and drove a powerful shot against the post and off Schmeichel, allowing Joe Allen to tap into an open goal.

Earlier, Schmeichel had dived sharply to the foot of his post to keep out Jonathan Walters’s low shot after just five minutes.

But Leicester, with Vardy looking sharp on the counteratt­ack, looked just as likely to open the scoring.

The England forward volleyed wide from Albrighton’s long ball, then started a counter- attack that allowed Riyad Mahrez a run at goal from which he tested Lee Grant with a driven shot.

King’s cross was then met by Robert Huth, whose powerful header was tipped over the crossbar by Grant.

Slimani beat Ryan Shawcross to King’s long pass on 23 minutes, taking the ball in his stride and forcing Grant into another solid piece of goalkeepin­g. — AFP

 ??  ?? Stoke City’s Mame Biram Diouf (left) and Giannelli Imbula in action with Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy (right).
Stoke City’s Mame Biram Diouf (left) and Giannelli Imbula in action with Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy (right).

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Malaysia