Jamie Vardy strikes twice as Leicester storm past relegated Huddersfield

Huddersfield Town 1-4 Leicester City: The Foxes are four from four now as they continue to impress under Brendan Rodgers

Mark Walker
The John Smith Stadium
Saturday 06 April 2019 16:28 BST
Comments
The in-form striker notched his 14th and 15th goals of the season
The in-form striker notched his 14th and 15th goals of the season

Jamie Vardy scored his seventh Premier League goal in six games as Leicester made it four straight wins with a 4-1 victory at relegated Huddersfield.

The in-form striker notched his 14th and 15th goals of the season at either end of the second half as the Foxes maintained their momentum under manager Brendan Rodgers.

Youri Tielemans fired Leicester into a half-time lead and Vardy added their second before Huddersfield hit back through Aaron Mooy's penalty.

James Maddison's brilliant free-kick and Vardy's late penalty were cruel on Huddersfield, but indicative of the gulf in class.

It was not all doom and gloom at the John Smith's Stadium one week after Huddersfield's relegation was confirmed.

Youri Teilemans celebrates after putting Leicester ahead

Mooy's new friendship with the club's special guest, seven-year-old mascot Bella from Texas, was enough to lift anyone's spirits.

Bella, flown over from Dallas for VIP treatment, revealed Mooy was her unlikely hero during last summer's World Cup after she lost her hair during treatment for brain cancer.

Mooy and midfield partner Jonathan Hogg helped Huddersfield make a lively start, but they had nothing to show for some neat interchanges and Leicester began to grow into the game.

Leicester took a 24th-minute lead when Christopher Schindler's half-clearance fell to Tielemans in a central position on the edge of the area, and his 20-yard shot deceived Ben Hamer, who appeared to misjudge the flight of the ball.

Vardy and Demarai Gray, in quick succession, spurned chances to add Leicester's second goal before Huddersfield rallied.

Aaron Mooy converts from the spot to pull one back for Huddersfield

Jon Gorenc Stankovic dragged Town's first effort on goal wide in the 28th minute and Alex Pritchard's chipped effort, after Kasper Schmeichel had charged off his goalline, was headed clear by Caglar Soyuncu.

Leicester, though, finished the first half on top. England left-back Ben Chilwell fired narrowly over and Gray was thwarted by Hamer, who then turned away Vardy's deflected cross.

Town striker Karlan Grant should have equalised soon after the restart, but his close-range effort from substitute Isaac Mbenza's cross was saved by Schmeichel.

Leicester then made their hosts pay when Vardy showed them how to finish following a similar move, in which the former England striker buried Ricardo Pereira's ball in from the right at the far post.

Huddersfield were thrown a lifeline four minutes later. Soyuncu was penalised for his clumsy challenge on Grant inside the area and Mooy converted from the spot.

Jamie Vardy scores Leicester's second goal of the afternoon

Town boss Jan Siewert clearly intended to try and rescue a rare point for his side when sending on big forward Steve Mounie for Pritchard and the Benin international forced Schmeichel into a brilliant 70th-minute save.

The action flowed, with Huddersfield playing their part and Leicester certainly knew they were in a game.

But the visitors sealed their win in the 79th minute when Maddison curled home a superb free-kick from the left edge of the area after Vardy had been bundled over by Hogg.

Vardy then put the icing on the cake when he picked himself up after being hauled down by Terence Kongolo to convert an 84th-minute penalty and was a whisker away from securing a hat-trick when his low angled shot rolled the wrong side of the post.

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in