STOLARCZYK AIDS THE ‘LUCKY' FOXES

ENZO Maresca admitted Leicester City rode their luck en route to booking their place in the fifth round. Birmingham spurned a number of first-half chances, before Foxes striker Jamie Vardy opened the scoring with his first goal in over two months.

- Sam Jordan

Yunus Akgun smashed home his first Leicester goal into the top-left corner from the edge of the penalty area after 72 minutes, before Dennis Praet sealed the win two minutes from time with a confident finish.

Maresca said: “We were lucky in the first half, they had many chances, the second half was much better, we controlled the game and made some tactical adjustments.

“A big part of the final result is down to Jakub Stolarczyk’s saves in the first half, that gave us the opportunity to still be in the game in the second half.

“The first goal was like 2016, it was fantastic, I’m happy for Jamie because it’s always important for a striker to score goals and also happy for Marc Albrighton for the assist.