Leicester get off the hook Vardy spares the blushes of defence

JAMIE VARDY rescued Leicester from a third consecutive Premier League defeat — with a little help from Jonathan Moss at Stockley Park.

Foxes fans are used to Vardy being their hero and after his early own goal and Maxwel Cornet’s brilliant strike, he twice equalised to earn Leicester a point their chaotic defensive display barely deserved.

Yet Burnley thought they had won it in the final minute when Chris Wood headed past Kasper Schmeichel, only for VAR to spot a narrow offside and rule out the goal.

Brendan Rodgers may feel his team deserved a little good fortune after suffering some bad luck in recent matches but he will know this was not good enough.

It is barely four months since Rodgers lifted the FA Cup but the home fans booed their manager when he took off the lively Ademola Lookman with 12 minutes remaining, and Leicester 2-1 down. Rodgers will point to Vardy’s 85thminute strike to show he got his changes right.

A f t e r Va r d y headed into his own net in the 12th minute, Burnley fans taunted his family and Vardy made sure he got his own back with provocative celebrations after both goals. Burnley boss Sean Dyche complained about ‘a clear foul’ on substitute Johann Gudmundsson in the build-up to Vardy’s second.

‘[The taunts] only happen to top players,’ said Rodgers. ‘When you score goals regularly it will always invite stick but it’s water off a duck’s back for Jamie. He’s out to prove a point in every game.’

He admitted: ‘We are frustrated with the result. We were much better going forward. We were more creative and scored two excellent goals but Burnley defend the box so well and made some great blocks and tackles.

‘I’m more worried about our defending as we can be much better. But overall we created enough chances and a point was deserved in the end.’

The result leaves Burnley still looking for their first win of the campaign yet Dyche will take heart from this showing, with James Tarkowski and Ben Mee magnificent in central defence and Matt Lowton making two goal-saving blocks. In the first half Leicester were run ragged by Matej Vydra and Cornet, until the latter sustained a suspected hamstring injury on the stroke of halftime.

‘We created chances and looked a threat but we have to turn our good performances into wins,’ said Dyche. ‘We are doing a lot of the right things but the margins are always tight. We have to get on the right side of those margins and I believe we can.’

Rodgers gave a first Premier League start to summer signing Lookman, dropping James Maddison to the bench, and he was lively early on. Yet Leicester have kept only one clean sheet in their last 12 league games and their defensive fragility was exposed again. Vardy tried to head Ashley Westwood’s corner away at the near post but instead glanced it past Schmeichel.

Though Leicester looked anxious, they will always have a chance with Vardy in the team. Referee Chris Kavanagh played advantage after Lowton flattened Barnes and Tielemans’ pass found Vardy’s angled run, allowing the forward to shoot low across Nick Pope and in.

The goal should have relaxed Leicester but five minutes before half-time they were behind again.

Vydra outwitted Jannik Vestergaard before lifting the ball to the far post where Cornet showed outstanding technique to volley home.

Vardy eventually collected sub Kelechi Iheanacho’s through ball to round Pope and equalise. Then came the late VAR reprieve after more dreadful defending had allowed Wood in.