YES NDIDI! at the King Power Stadium

Solo goal lights up Leicester to bring back Ranieri smile

WILFRED NDIDI put a smile back on Claudio Ranieri’s face last night, scoring four minutes after coming off the bench in extra-time against Derby.

The 20-year- old struck from outside the box to ease the pressure on his boss, before Demarai Gray made it 3-1 in the Fa Cup replay. abdoul Camara’s deflected free-kick had cancelled out andy King’s opener. The Foxes visit Millwall in the fifth round.

CHEERS at the start of the night for Claudio Ranieri and something approaching a hero’s reception at the end of a thrilling and deserved victory over local rivals.

So this was a good night for the Leicester City manager even if some will argue it was not one for the credibility of the FA Cup.

First to Ranieri. A day after public support from Leicester’s owner, the Italian received likewise from the rank and file. Five minutes in to what amounted to a fourth-round replay between two reserve teams, the home crowd stood to show their appreciation for the man who realised their Premier League dream last season.

Too much of modern football is pre- planned and orchestrated. Pre-match music, fireworks, men in the centre circle with hunting horns. All very well if it keeps the TV companies and the children happy.

What matters most, though, hasn’t changed. Supporters can get managers sacked. Equally, they can still the directors’ hands as they reach for the panic button.

So as Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha watched this nervy but eminently watchful game in the King Power Stadium, he will have noticed the love for Ranieri that still exists.

Is it mirrored by the Leicester players? We will find out more at Swansea on Sunday. Unfortunately, few of those that really matter played here as Leicester eventually saw off Derby with two brilliant goals from Wilfred Ndidi and the superb Demarai Gray in extra-time.

With Leicester making 10 changes from Sunday and Steve McClaren’s team from the Championship featuring eight, it would be interesting to know what visiting royalty from the FA made of it. Both chief executive Martin Glenn and chairman Greg Clarke were here.

As it turned out, it was a perfectly decent game and a personal view is that this not an occasion to berate Ranieri and McClaren.

Plenty will and it is understandable. There are too many games in this competition now played between weak teams. One day something will give and it was probably be the removal of replays from the calendar. A sad day that will be.

But here last night it was easy to look at the decisions made by the two managers and at least understand them.

Leicester, deep in the mire at the wrong end of the league they won last year, play relegation rivals on Sunday. If they lose, they may well drop in to the bottom three and Ranieri could find his owner’s backing turns to dust. After that game Leicester play in the Champions League.

Derby, meanwhile, have a promotion from the Championship to fight for and McClaren works for a tricky owner and knows it. McClaren’s team will not win the FA Cup and even if they did a place in the Premier League is arguably worth more, in more ways than one.

So let us spare two experienced managers a public flogging on this occasion and concentrate on what was a very good game of football. It didn’t look like it would be one when the team sheets dropped but it grew in to something quite dramatic and perfectly engaging.

Leicester were the better team and deserved to win in normal time. Had it not been for the concession of a dreadful goal and a quite abysmal performance from referee Mike Jones, they would have done.

Having been only fleetingly impressive in the first half, Leicester should still have had two penalties.

First Derby’s Jason Shackell sent Ahmed Musa sprawling in the 26th minute before Richard Keogh barged Ben Chilwell over just before halftime. Jones did not hesitate in dismissing both claims but maybe he should have taken more time. Both looked like fouls and TV replays did little to undermine that view.

Leicester could have been forgiven for nursing a grievance about that at half-time but if they did they used it as motivation. They made a flying start to the second half and were ahead within a minute of it starting.

Gray was enjoying an impressive evening and he of all these players made a decent case for more Premier League action here. The former Birmingham player is quick but he can play too and the cross he delivered on to the head of Marc Albrighton at the far post was perfect. Albrighton could have headed for goal himself but the angle was tight so instead he diverted it back across goal to King and the Wales international could not miss.

The King Power celebrated as though it was another title-winning goal. Certainly it felt as though it meant something on what was becoming an emotional night and within a couple of minutes Gray was at it again as he bore down on the Derby defence from deep.

This time the winger played a neat pass to Musa and when the ball was returned to him he was only a foot or so away from extending the lead. Sadly for him, the return pass was just too far in front of him.

Derby now had to respond and when they did there was fortune involved. A short free-kick was played to Abdoul Camara and his left foot shot was deflected past goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler by the outstretched leg of Chilwell, the final man in the Leicester wall. In the space of 15 minutes, we had seen the very best and worst of Leicester and as a result they were back where they started.

It was a dreadful goal to concede and one wondered if the night would run away from them. To their credit they did not allow this to happen and even though Jones failed to spot Derby goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell’s clear handball in the 90th minute and another penalty — Keogh on Islam Slimani — in extratime, they went on to bury Derby in the added period. Both goals were sublime. Ndidi’s was a rocket from 25 yards in the 94th minute while Gray’s was a thing of beauty, curled in to the corner from an angle six minutes from the end after a weaving run. You could say they were goals befitting the champions of England. Certainly Gray should play on Sunday. If he doesn’t then Ranieri, popular as he is, will be guilty of not watching properly.

LEICESTER (4-4-1-1): Zieler 6.5; Amartey 7, Benalouane 7, Wasilewski 6.5, Chilwell 7; Albrighton 7, King 7.5, Mendy 6 (Ndidi 91), Gray 8; Kapustka 6 (Mahrez 81min); Musa 6.5 (Slimani 91). Subs not used: Hamer, Fuchs, Drinkwater, Okazaki.

Booked: Mendy, Musa. DERBY (4-3-3): Mitchell 6; Christie 6, Keogh 6, Shackell 6.5, Lowe 7; Butterfield 7, De Sart 6, Johnson 6.5 (Vydra 53, 6); Camara 7.5 (Russell 74, 5), Blackman 6 (Nugent 82), Anya 7.

Subs not used: Carson, Ince, Baird, Pearce. Booked: Christie. Man of the match: Demarai Gray. Referee: Mike Jones 4.