Leicester’s Vardy scores at both ends in 2-2 draw with Burnley

Burnley were denied their first Premier League win of the season at Leicester City as Jamie Vardy scored an own goal before following it up with two equalisers in a 2-2 draw at the King Power Stadium on Saturday. Burnley have now gone without a win in their opening six league matches for a second consecutive season and the result leaves Sean Dyche’s side in the relegation zone in 19th with two points from six games while Leicester are 12th.

“It’s a little frustrating in terms of the result. We were much better going forward. Burnley defended their box so well, I’m more worried about how we defended,” Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers said. “We showed a really good reaction but conceded too early to go 2-1 behind. You have to give credit to Burnley and some of the blocks (they made).

“We didn’t make the keeper work as much as we would have liked but we just failed to make the finish… They made some great blocks to stop (Vardy) from getting a hat-trick.”

The visitors took the lead moments after Vardy missed a header from point-blank range. The striker attempted to clear a Burnley corner at the near post, but his glancing header beat goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel to find the back of the net. But Vardy redeemed himself with an equaliser when he ran into space to receive Youri Tielemans’ pass and beat Nick Pope with a low, angled shot that found the bottom corner.

Burnley reclaimed the lead three minutes later when Ivorian midfielder Maxwel Cornet volleyed home from a Matej Vydra cross, giving Schmeichel no chance but he was substituted at the stroke of halftime with an apparent hamstring injury.

Leicester dominated proceedings in the second half but found it difficult to break down Burnley, who defended resolutely and resorted to the odd cynical foul to break their momentum. However, with five minutes left, Vardy made the breakthrough again when he used his pace to entice Pope into no man’s land before rounding the keeper and side-footing the ball into an empty net from a narrow angle to make it 2-2.

Chris Wood nearly won it for Burnley at the end with a stoppage time goal but the header was disallowed by VAR for offside but Dyche said the result was a point gained rather than two points dropped.

“We’ve got to turn good performances into more than just a point. But there’s life in these performances, it’s not easy to come here, especially when you’re not winning,” he told BBC Radio. “I thought the mentality and quality where we needed it was right… A lot of good things, but we’ve got to make sure we turn them into wins and that’s my biggest frustration.”