Ranieri: Vardy Deserved His Goal

- The City boss praises the performance of striker Jamie Vardy at Vitality Stadium 

- Vardy scored late on from the penalty spot after Callum Wilson had opened the scoring 

- An unbeaten Foxes lie third in the league table heading into the international break 

There was praise from Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri for striker Jamie Vardy after he capped a battling performance with a Barclays Premier League goal at AFC Bournemouth. 

The Foxes had fallen behind to a Callum Wilson strike midway through the first half but dug deep and secured a 1-1 draw thanks to a late penalty won and scored by Vardy. 

It was a tough match against a well organised home side, but City’s belief helped them to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign, leaving the manager delighted heading into the international break. 

On his striker’s penalty he told Foxes Player HD: “It was brilliant. I’m very happy with him because he deserved to score a goal. He works very hard for his team-mates and for everybody. He deserved to score a goal. 

“I said to my squad, sooner or later we will score, but it’s important not to concede. 

“We didn’t concede many chances to them and they scored after we touched the ball twice with headers. Only this. They wanted to shoot but we stopped them very well. We also had two or three chances to score a goal.” 

Bournemouth undoubtedly had the better of the first half, but Ranieri was once again pleased with the response from his team, and more importantly to remain unbeaten. 

“I’m very pleased because Bournemouth are a very well organised team,” said Ranieri. “I watched the first three matches they played. I spoke with my players beforehand and I explained how they are good and play like a team – very well organised. 

“We started very well. I was very excited for the first minutes and when we conceded a goal we slowed down the tempo and lost some of our spirit, personality and character. We lost the first half, but in the second half my team showed good character, spirit and personality. They wanted to draw and then to win. 

“It was very important not to lose the match. I’m very happy and now we can go have some rest and the international players go away but must re-start with the same mentality when they come back.”