TOON GO HAY WIRE
Isaac leaves ’em red and buried
ISAAC HAYDEN pressed Newcastle’s self-destruct button with an idiotic sending-off that signalled the end for his struggling side.
No one could have blamed Toon boss Steve Bruce if he had ordered Hayden to walk all the way back to Tyneside after his red card shocker.
The midfielder was shown a straight red by referee Craig Pawson on the stroke of half-time for a reckless X-rated tackle which poleaxed Dennis Praet.
Bruce looked despondent with the rain lashing down and the realisation that with his side only a goal down, they had almost certainly tossed away any hope of taking anything home.
Hayden seemed horrified but why he should have been is inexplicable.
Even TV pundit Graeme Souness, no stranger himself to robust challenges, was in no doubt Hayden’s challenge was a straight red “all day long”.
The ex-Arsenal man protested angrily as he was guided towards the touchline, mouthing to the fourth official: “What’s the point of playing?”
But when you are next to bottom of the table with five points, it was just about the last thing his team-mates or Bruce needed.
Things looked hard enough after 16 minutes when Ricardo Pereira ended a brilliant run to the edge of the box by curling a low shot beyond Martin Dubravka and into the bottom corner.
Pereira’s early punch should not have been a big surprise – he has spent this week training in the gym with MMA fighter Jimmy Wallhead. The Toon have scored only four goals in the league all season so handing sides with Leicester’s cutting edge an early advantage is hardly recommended.
And they were totally dismantled in the second half as the Foxes blitzed them with three goals in 10 minutes.
First Jamie Vardy made a mug of Dubravka after a neat link-up between Praet and Harvey Barnes sent him storming into the box.
The arch predator does not need any help in those situations but the Slovakian goalkeeper gave him ample assistance by letting the ball rifle underneath him in the 54th minute.
Three minutes later it was 3-0, Pereira again causing mayhem with an angled shot which flew in off Toon defender Paul Dummett for an own goal.
The wheels were falling off and Vardy helped himself to a second in the 64th minute when he found a ridiculous amount of space at the far post.
And when substitute Marc Albrighton picked him out with a pinpoint cross there was only one outcome.
Newcastle stemmed the bleeding but their torment was not over with the home side helping themselves to a fifth goal in the last minute of normal time.
Midfielder Wilfred Ndidi added his name to the scoresheet when he seized on a Ben Chilwell ball into the box.