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Jamie Vardy
Jamie Vardy scores the equaliser for Leicester City in the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth. Photograph: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
Jamie Vardy scores the equaliser for Leicester City in the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth. Photograph: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Bournemouth hold on for laudable draw after Leicester City’s fightback

This article is more than 6 years old

Leicester City used the last match of the campaign to summarise their season, starting diabolically before fighting back for a respectable finish. That was not enough to lift last season’s champions into the top half of the table, nor even to finish above Bournemouth, whose season has been a triumph.

Given that Leicester were in the relegation zone when Craig Shakespeare presided over his first match after Claudio Ranieri’s dismissal in February, the club’s caretaker manager has made a strong case for being appointed on a full-time basis. Shakespeare hopes to find out soon about his employers’ intentions. “It’s out of my hands,” the 53-year-old said. “When I’ll get the phone call I don’t know but I’m sure there’ll be a meeting soon. There is no set date. They are very good business people and I’m sure they appreciate that you, me and everybody is waiting and I’m sure we’ll get a decision soon.”

Shakespeare believes he has “grown into the role” but said he would not necessarily leave the club if asked to revert to being an assistant in the event of the top job being assigned to somebody else. “I have a contract as an assistant manager after this one, it would be foolish of me to say ‘I’m not going to do this, I’m not going to do that’ because I’m not in that position,” he said. “It’s up for discussion.”

Although Leicester ended the campaign with 37 points fewer than last season and were thrashed 6-1 by Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday, there was a festive mood around the King Power Stadium before and after kickoff – and not only because the club’s chairman, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, arranged free drinks for fans. There is a sense that the good times have not gone from Leicester despite the feeble title defence and the painful separation from Ranieri. This campaign also brought, after all, a historic march to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and generally encouraging performances under Shakespeare.

But the home fans’ faith was tested here when Junior Stanislas scored after 57 seconds. Lys Mousset took advantage of clumsy defending before his shot was deflected into the path of Stanislas, who tapped in from close range. Kasper Schmeichel then made an excellent one-handed save from a shot by Dan Gosling to prevent Bournemouth from stretching their lead.

Leicester got their act together towards the end of the first half and broke Bournemouth’s resistance six minutes into the second. Ben Chilwell floated the ball in from the left to the back post, Islam Slimani nodded it back across goal and Jamie Vardy finished from close range. Vardy and Slimani had chances to complete the comeback but could not to do so.

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