TON-UP VARDY LIFTS THE CITY
Striker brings light relief from isolation
IN t he week when t he ci t y’s inhabitants were told to re-enter isolation, Leicester’s football team and talisman Jamie Vardy finally emerged from what has felt like their own restart lockdown.
Five games in, they now have a victory and with it Vardy has his 100th Premier League goal, not that the locals were able to toast this belated triumph.
While the rest of the country’s pubs were allowed to re- open yesterday morning, those in the vicinity of the King Power Stadium remained closed, the Government having imposed a local lockdown following a spike in coronavirus cases.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers says his players are protected from the fresh outbreak, given they remain in their ‘bubble’.
The team had certainly been in a world of their own since the restart, taking two points from nine in the Premier League as well as exiting the FA Cup.
Indeed, Leicester fans more than any other would have been gasping for a barrel full of ale to help ease the anxiety brought on by a collapse in form that has threatened their Champions League ambitions.
But the doors were locked and lights off inside the Local Hero, a watering hole just 500 yards from the ground and ordinarily heaving on matchdays.
Yesterday it should have been showing the game on TV, albeit in muted surrounds and with punters at a distance from one another — much like Palace’s defence in the second half.
Instead, Leicester’s supporters were cheering Vardy from their sofas and Rodgers believes the win must have given the city a timely lift.
‘ When you see the rest of the country open up, it’s been very difficult,’ he said. ‘The city deserves huge credit for adhering to what the government have asked.
‘If we can give them a boost by winning a game of football then that is a responsibility we assume.
‘Hopefully they can enjoy that amid all of the other issues there are in the city at the moment.’
While the pubs remain dry in Leicester, Vardy’s goal drought has been of greater concern to Rodgers of late.
He has not even l ooked l i ke scoring since football returned last month.
In the seconds before he brought relief to that barren run, there was another example of his recent struggle — falling over when in on goal from goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel’s long punt.
Vardy was only just returning to his feet when Palace defender Mamadou Sakho attempted to turn but ended up slipping. That allowed Harvey Barnes to steal in and cross for his team-mate to tap into an empty net for his landmark goal.
The former England striker added a second in injury time with a trademark burst and dinked finish over the goalkeeper.
Rodgers said: ‘To score 100 is a phenomenal achievement, to come into the Premier League at the late stage he has and be so prolific. It’s an honour to work with such a top striker.
‘ But i t ’s been hard f or him recently because he hasn’t had too many chances.
‘I had a chat with him and told him to get back to what he’s good at because there i s never a l ost cause with Jamie — at his best he hunts everything down. He is a real catalyst for this team.’
Sakho, though, had gift-wrapped Vardy’s first and that mistake was symptomatic of a second- half Palace performance that lacked energy and concentration. The road signs on the approach to Leicester advised that only ‘essential travel’ was permitted into the city and it looked as if Palace’s players did not deem this fixture entirely necessary at times.
In fairness, perhaps that is a byproduct of sitting safely in midtable.
Roy Hodgson’s players were denied their customary morning walk because of the lockdown restrictions, but at least a few of them enjoyed a stroll during the game here.
The Eagles manager thought otherwise of the performance and said his team were unfortunate to lose by three, but that is to ignore how little they offered in the final third of the pitch. It is, of course, fashionable for t he fi rst half to expire goalless of late, but Leicester and Palace between them could not even manage a shot on target in the opening 45 minutes of the match.
Palace have scored the fewest first-half goals in the division and the closest they came here was a Luka Milivojevic free- kick that shaved t he angle of post and crossbar.
At t he ot her end, Leicester defender James Justin fired a shot that connected flush with the woodwork from 20 yards and Kelechi Iheanacho was guilty of heading wide from six yards out.
The striker made up for that when turning the ball in from similar range on 49 minutes. It rounded off an impressive attack in which Marc Albrighton and Ayoze Perez had combined to free Youri Tielemans, who provided the teasing delivery for Iheanacho to finish.
Vardy then completed his double to ensure the sports page headlines belonged to him — and that is a welcome distraction in these parts, given the city’s presence on the news pages.