FOXES FINALLY SHOW HUNGER
Hosts fire after Kasper woe
LEICESTER do not make things easy for themselves these days.
They ended up putting the Danish minnows to the sword, but boy they made hard work of it.
They were cruising in this Europa Conference League playoff first leg when Wilfred Ndidi marked his 200th game for the club with a 23rd-minute goal but shot themselves in the foot.
Denmark No.1 Kasper Schmeichel extended the hand of friendship too far as Randers grabbed a shock equaliser against the run of play right on half time.
Schmeichel should have done better when Vito HammershojMistrati fired a left foot shot goalwards but he did not get a strong enough hand to it and it crept in.
But his blushes were spared when the Foxes set about ramming home their superior pedigree. Harvey Barnes blasted in from close range three minutes after the break and Patson Daka got a third soon after.
It must have been a big relief to Brendan Rodgers who picked a strong side against a team who have not had competitive action for two months due to a break in the Danish League.
Rodgers is desperate to get some wins under his belt after five games without a victory.
Ndidi looked to have set them after linking up superbly with Ademola Lookman on the left hand side before sweeping a ball into the far corner of the net from six yards.
Once Ndidi had broken the deadlock, Leicester moved in for the kill trying to make the second leg next week a formality.
But they were in for a shock right on half-time when Schmeichel failed to deal with Hammershoj-Mistrali’s low leftfoot shot.The goalkeeper should have got it away but ended up feebly helping it into the net to the delight of the 200 visiting fans.
After the break Leicester got a grip of the game with two quick goals. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall put the result beyond any doubt in the 74th minute when he slipped the ball into the bottom corner after great work by Lookman.
James Maddison gave Leicester a scare, though, in the second half when he was helped from the field and substituted only 19 minutes after coming on. The Leicester physios took his pulse – but he walked down the tunnel straight to the medical room.
LEICESTER (4-3-3): Schmeichel 6; Albrighton 7, Vestergaard 7, Soyuncu 7, Amartey 7; Tielemans 7, Ndidi 8 (Maddison 64, Choudhury 83), Dewsbury-Hall 7 (Soumare 83); Lookman 7, Daka 7 (Iheanacho 64, 6), Barnes 7 (Perez 83). Goals: Ndidi 23, Barnes 49, Daka 54, Dewsbury-Hall 74.
RANDERS (4-4-2): Carlgren 7; Kallesoe 6, Graves 6, Piesinger 6, Kopplin 6; Kehinde 7 (Klysner 76), Johnsen 6, Lauenborg 6 (Tibbling 64, 5), Ankersen 6 (Bundgaard 46, 6); Kamara 6 (Brock-Madsen 64, 5), Hammershoj-Mistrati 7 (Enggard 87). Goal: Hammershoj-Mistrati 45.