Leicester 2-0 Southampton: Jamie Vardy and Jordan Ayew sink Saints with first-half goals - as Foxes seal all three points in bottom of the table clash

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Jamie Vardy was never going to go quietly, was he?

It was always going to be Vardy, in his first home game since announcing he would leave Leicester City in the summer, to score his side’s first league goal at the King Power Stadium since December.

The 38-year-old might not have the old zip but he showed, once again, that should a Premier League club come knocking this summer, he still has the quality to deliver at this level as his fine first-half finish inspired a rare victory for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s relegated Foxes.

Vardy needs just one more in his final three games to reach 200 goals for Leicester.

‘Knowing Jamie, he wants that round figure – 500 games, 200 goals, it looks nice,’ said van Nistelrooy, who is still waiting to find out if Leicester want him to continue next season.

This was vintage Vardy. When referee David Webb went down 22 minutes into his Premier League debut after a collision with goal scorer Jordan Ayew, sparking a near 12-minute delay before he was replaced by the fourth official, Vardy trotted over to the fallen Webb, picked up his whistle, put it to his lips and gave it a toot.

Jamie Vardy scored the opening goal as Leicester beat Southampton 2-0 on Saturday

The Foxes came out on top in a clash between the Premier League's 19th and 20th placed sides

How much Leicester will miss him, not just his goals but for the joy and child-like mischief he still brings even in his twilight years.

Joy has been gravely lacking this season, for both these teams, who will spend next season in the Championship.

Vardy’s opener interrupted resounding chants of ‘sack the board’ from the home faithful in protest of their second relegation in three seasons.

Supporters held up a banner asking their owner and director of football ‘What’s so funny?’ in response to the Sky Sports cameras cutting to them laughing in the directors’ box five minutes before they were officially relegated in their last game here against Liverpool.

It briefly flashed up on the stadium big screens that take the live broadcast feed, before hastily being taken down.

The fans had to pause again on the stroke of half-time when Ayew doubled Leicester’s lead, first firing a free-kick into the wall before drilling the rebound low past Aaron Ramsdale.

Saints fans aired their frustrations, telling their players they were ‘not fit to wear the shirt’ and directed chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ at interim boss Simon Rusk when he took off Mateus Fernandes, who had just had a goal ruled out for offside.

Southampton remain on 11 points, still level with Derby as the lowest tally in Premier League history, and with games against Manchester City and Arsenal to come, you sense they just missed their best chance to surpass it. This defeat ensured they will finish bottom.

The Saints have picked up just 11 points from their matches in the top-flight this season

‘It's a difficult situation, it hurts,’ said Rusk. ‘I will never knock people that spend their money, travel and come to support us. We need them. I fully understand their frustration at the end but we're not good enough.’

But this was, as it so often has been here over the last 13 years, the Vardy show. 

Before he forced a save with a 25-yard free-kick, the cries of ‘Jamie Vardy’s having a party,’ echoed around the ground.

When his number went up five minutes before time, everyone rose to their feet to applaud him off the field for they know this party only has a few songs left to play.