No Vardy party a blessing for Fleetwood Town

Vardy picked up a straight red card against Wolves last weekend and his three-match suspension rules him out of the second-round tie.

Talk of Vardy, whose goals fired Fleetwood into the Football League in 2011-12 before he joined the Foxes, dominated the build-up to last season’s FA Cup third-round tie between the clubs. He finally came off the bench for a cameo against his former club in the replay, which Leicester won 2-0.

But the Premier League winner and England international (right) won’t be involved in Town’s first-ever League Cup second-round tie and Hill said: “It is a blessing... I think.

“They have a strong team and he might not have played. They do a bit of rotation and will have adequate players to fill that role.

“He was such a big player for this club but also in Leicester’s success over the past few years. I’m sure he would be a little bit frustrated to miss this game because his affection towards this club is well known.

“I’ve played against him a few times and he is a right handful. He is a good player and I’m sure they will miss him. It is a chance to test ourselves against some of the elite players in England. It is a good test for our lads and they should be buzzing.

Town face two League One games before then, at Scunthorpe tonight and Charlton on Saturday, as they bid to build on their four points from three games.

Hill added: “Our focus is the next two league games, then we will look at Leicester.

“After Saturday we’ll see what the numbers are and the bodies are like, then we’ll go and attack Leicester.”