After the break from their club duties and successful qualifying for the AFCON 2019, Super Eagles have returned to training and on Saturday, regular season matches.
In one of the first kick-offs of the afternoon, Brighton took on Leicester City at home, at the Amex Stadium. Even though Leon Balogun was training with the team ahead of this game, once again he was on the bench and never made an appearance. For the Foxes, both Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho started the game on the bench.
Brighton took the lead as early as 15 minutes after kick-off when Glenn Murray headed the ball in after a corner kick. Things only became worse when fifteen minutes later James Maddison was sent off for simulation, after being booked only three minutes before. Wilfred Ndidi, who didn’t play for the Super Eagles against South Africa because of suspension, was introduced into the game only a couple of minutes later for the injured Vicente Iborra. He also managed to get himself booked, seven minutes after coming onto the pitch.
Kelechi Iheanacho (Vlad1988 / Shutterstock.com)
Leicester were patient after the restart and brought in Jamie Vardy from the bench in the 56th minute to mix things up. And then in the 70th minute, Kelechi Iheanacho, the Super Eagles striker, came in off the bench to replace Shinji Okazaki. Still, He couldn’t make much of an impact as Brighton took the initiative once again in this game and were more likely to score.
But then, only moments after they had a penalty appeal for handball by Beram Kayal turned away by the referee, Kayal brings down Iheanacho in the box and the referee Chris Kavanagh had no choice this time. The Super Eagles striker was through, and the Israeli defender didn’t protest at all.
Jamie Vardy stepped up to the plate confidently and in the 79th-minute slots the ball right into the top right-hand corner of the goal, away from the reach of the goalkeeper, to give Leicester an equalizer and possibly make the match very interesting until the final whistle.
Vardy was close to scoring again in the 86th minute but his effort was deflected for a corner. Then in the 89th minute, Iheanacho shoots after a cross from Vardy, but the ball goes wide almost brushing the left post as it was going out.
The result stayed 1:1 until the end, and Leicester were lucky to earn a point in this game and stretch their undefeated run to four games. Next for them is Southampton in the FA Cup, who they are playing on Tuesday this week.