Vardy’s left waiting as Maddison strikes again to make point for Foxes
JAMES MADDISON continued his stunning mid-season revival to rescue Leicester as Jamie Vardy was made to wait to get his hands on another piece of history.
It came in a match in which the start of the second half was delayed by 15 minutes as medics dealt with an incident involving a spectator in the stands.
All the pre-match talk was of Vardy being on the cusp of breaking Ian Wright’s record for the most Premier League goals scored after turning 30.
But it was Maddison’s second-half strike that stole Vardy’s thunder and nicked Leicester a point after Brendan Rodgers’ side had twice fallen behind.
England international Maddison, who has struggled to get into Leicester’s first-choice XI for much of the season, has now scored in each of his past three games.
Leicester made a nightmare start when they switched off at a set piece to allow defender Jan Bednarek to give Saints the lead after three minutes.
Nathan Tella played a clever short corner and crossed for Mohammed Salisu to test the reflexes of Kasper Schmeichel.
Schmeichel could only parry the ball back out into a crowded six-yard box and Bednarek bundled home.
The early setback extended Leicester’s run without a Premier League clean sheet to 13 games but the Foxes drew level in the 22nd minute.
Alex McCarthy pushed Wilfred Ndidi’s strike from just inside the penalty area straight into the path of Jonny Evans, who fired home from close range.
Schmeichel was beaten for a second time 11 minutes before the interval.
The Foxes were again unable to deal with a James Ward-Prowse corner, allowing Nathan Redmond to put the ball back into their box for Che Adams to plant a diving header beyond the helpless Schmeichel.
Tella failed to trouble Schmeichel with a wayward header before Maddison drew Leicester level for a second time four minutes after the restart.The midfielder started the move deep inside his own half before eventually picking up a pass from Luke Thomas, leaving defender Tino Livramento on his backside and firing past McCarthy at his near post.
Leicester could have won it 19 minutes from time but McCarthy produced a stunning fingertip save to keep out Harvey Barnes’ blistering low drive.
Vardy should have claimed his record moments later after finding himself one-on-one with McCarthy but blazed his right-foot shot over the crossbar. SOUTHAMPTON (4-4-2): McCarthy 6; Livramento 7, Bednarek 7 (Lyanco, 85), Salisu 6, Walker-Peters 6; Redmond 7, Ward-Prowse 7, Romeu 6, Tella 6 (Broja, 65, 6); Adams 7, A Armstrong 5 (Elyounoussi, 74, 6). Goals: Bednarek 3, Adams 34.
LEICESTER (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel 6; Castagne 6, Evans 8, Soyuncu 6, Thomas 7; Soumare 5 (Dewsbury-Hall, 45, 6), Ndidi 5; Lookman 5 (Perez, 61, 6), Maddison 8, Barnes 7 (Daka, 75, 6); Vardy 5. Goals: Evans 22, Maddison 49.