Leicester secured a safe passage through to the third round of the Carabao Cup with a dominant 4-0 victory over Tranmere at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester made eight changes from their defeat to Fulham at the weekend and took a while to get in their stride but it was Jordan Ayew – on his first start – that gave the Foxes a narrow half-time advantage.
An imperious-looking Leicester pulled no punches in the second period and their Premier League quality showed as Stephy Mavididi made it two from the penalty pot before Wilfred Ndidi and Harry Winks each struck to hand Steve Cooper his first competitive win in charge.
A minute’s applause rang round the ground ahead of kick-off to pay tribute to former Foxes boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died on Monday.
A low key and rather disjointed start to the contest welcomed a sparsely-populated King Power Stadium, but the hosts soon started to gain control against their opposition, who were still unbeaten in the fourth tier, led by Nigel Adkins.
Player-coach Joe Murphy, 43, lined up between the sticks for the visitors and was tested for the first time after 20 minutes when he dived across to meet Ayew’s darting effort from distance.
A neat exchange between former Spurs pair Winks and Oliver Skipp sent Ndidi through on goal but he dragged his effort wide across the face of goal.
League Two Tranmere held their own for the first half-hour but their top-flight opponents were starting to show their quality as the half wore on – this time Skipp raced clear but Murphy was called upon for a second time to keep it goalless.
Tranmere’s resistance broke in the 38th minute with thanks to a piece of brilliance from Ayew, who shifted the ball onto his right from outside the box again and cracked it past Murphy – despite getting his hands to the effort.
Leicester had the opportunity to double their advantage in the 51st minute after Ricardo Pereira was brought down by Connor Jennings in the area and Mavididi struck the ball low and hard into the bottom-left corner to double their lead.
The home side were out of sight with 20 minutes to play as Winks’ pass was flicked by Ayew into the path of Ndidi, who finished from close range.
Leicester showed no signs of letting up and were on the prowl for more as – from a corner – Winks picked up the ball on the edge of the box and bulleted home to cap off a supreme evening.
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