The 37-year-old striker rescued a point for Leicester City on their return to the Premier League on Monday by heading in a second-half equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Tottenham, who had largely dominated the first half.
Tottenham had plenty of chances to extend their lead but new signing Dominic Solanke was among those guilty of squandering opportunities.
Instead, it was Spanish defender Pedro Porro who made Tottenham’s early superiority count after 29 minutes when he got between two Leicester defenders to head James Maddison’s cross into the net at the far post.
But Vardy, who was key to Leicester’s shock Premier League win in 2016 and has remained at the club ever since, was left unmarked and headed in the equaliser.
A 9-0 corner count gave some indication of Spurs’ dominance in the first half, but Vardy’s goal changed the game completely.
Steve Cooper’s side suddenly looked much livelier and both teams had chances to win in a tightly contested final half hour.
“Tottenham are a really good team but we gave them too much respect and started chasing them and that changed the momentum,” Vardy told Sky Sports.
Vardy missed a good chance in the 70th minute, when he broke free from goal but his low shot was saved by Guglielmo Vicario. At the other end of the pitch, Richarlison headed wide in added time, the last chance of the match.
“It’s a disappointing night for us,” said Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou. “We need to be more ruthless in front of goal. We were so dominant that we should have been well away from the opposition. To have wasted so much time tonight when we had so much control of the ball and territory is disappointing.”
The match was stopped for eight minutes at the end of the second half after Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur suffered a head injury. The Uruguayan was given oxygen and carried off on a stretcher, but Postecoglou said he was “conscious and communicating”.
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