Tranmere 0-2 Leicester: Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi fire the Foxes into Carabao Cup third round
- Wilfred Ndidi opened the scoring in the 54th minute with a fine low strike
- Ndidi then crossed for Jamie Vardy to double the lead four minutes later
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If Wilfred Ndidi really does leave Leicester for their bitter rivals Nottingham Forest in the coming days, at least he left something sweet to remember him by.
The Nigerian midfielder has been a fine servant for the Foxes, playing almost 250 games, but would no doubt prefer to be playing in the Premier League.
Forest would be hardly high on the acceptable list for any Foxes fan but Ndidi potentially signed off here with a goal and an assist as Leicester eased into the Carabao Cup third round.
It took a little while for the 69-place gap between the Championship leaders and League Two strugglers Tranmere to show but once Ndidi fired in off the post, it was game over.
The evergreen Jamie Vardy, 36, who still gets some kind of kick out of a Tuesday night in Birkenhead, headed Leicester’s second not long after and that was that.
Jamie Vardy (right) and Wilfred Ndidi (left) scored the goals as Leicester beat Tranmere
It continued Leicester’s 100 per cent start in both league and cup, with their manager Enzo Maresca, who injected essential impetus into their performance with four half-time subs, still yet to taste defeat. Or a draw for that matter.
This was, of course, a rerun of the 2000 League Cup final, the last at the old Wembley, in which two Matt Elliott goals guided Leicester to a 2-1 win over Tranmere, who had Clint Hill sent off.
The visitors’ teamsheet showed six changes from the side that continued their perfect start to life in the Championship at Rotherham on Saturday.
But for all the changes of personnel, there was a familiarity in the way Enzo Maresca sent out his team to play. Leicester set out to weave pretty patterns with the ball and break down what was always going to be a packed Tranmere defence.
Leicester’s first chance fell to Harry Winks, who skewed not too far wide when the ball sat up invitingly for him. Chelsea loanee Cesare Casadei then delivered a dangerous low cross from the right that Jordan Turnbull almost turned into his own net.
Ndidi left something sweet to remember him by if he does move to Nottingham Forest
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But Leicester’s possession play was met by stiff resistance from opponents fourth bottom of League Two, whose aim was to avoid conceding early and remain in the contest.
At one point, Winks produced an air-kick on the edge of the area with so much spin he was able to run and collect it, but the move, like many others in the first-half for the visitors, broke down.
Growing in confidence, Tranmere even carved out some openings of their own. Dan Pike, the 21-year-old left-back taken on a short-term contract from Blackburn, let fly from 35 yards with Jakub Stolarczyk pushing it away.
Moments later, Josh Hawkes spied Leicester’s Polish stopper a long way off his line and attempted the audacious lob, failing to get the elevation.
That was a brief bit of respite for the hosts, who were soon under pressure again when Casadei sent a powerful header over from Marc Albrighton’s corner.
But there was a hint of Leicester frustration at the stalemate on 41 minutes when centre-half Wout Faes lashed at a volley from outside the box. Unsurprisingly, it ended up in the stand.
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Maresca turned to his bench at half-time, making four changes with one of those introduced Yunus Akgun, their new loan signing from Galatasaray.
Having created the best chances of the first-half, Tranmere were soon at it again with Kieron Morris forcing a low save from Stolarczyk.
But it was one of that quartet of substitutes, Ndidi, who make the breakthrough with a low angled strike that kissed the inside of the post and bounced in.
The move was sparked by Wanya marcal beating his man on the left, cutting the ball inside the Ricardo Pereira, who chipped it over into Ndidi’s path.
Vardy’s goal was a close-range header he simply couldn’t miss after Ndidi worked enough space to dink a cross in.
The former England frontman was clean through for another but unselfishly tried to get Akgun a first goal. He wasn’t quite on the same wavelength.
But Ndidi had already inflicted the damage.
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