A brilliant incentive.
Fleetwood Town held Leicester City to a 0-0 draw in their FA Cup third round tie.
Just like last year, the FA Cup wouldn’t be the same without a story involving a lower league goalkeeper and food and it’s fair to say that Fleetwood’s goalkeeper Chris Neal will be eating well in 2018.
Before the match, he was promised a year’s worth of pizza if he kept a clean sheet against the 2015-16 Premier League champions. With two divisions between the teams, that sounded like a hard ask, but Fleetwood acquited themselves very well. In fact, they were the more threatening team with 14 shots compared to Leicester’s 8, none of which were on target.
An unchallenging afternoon for the ‘keeper means that Fleetwood’s sponsor, Papa John’s, will provide Neal with a year’s worth of pizza.
Things may have been different had Jamie Vardy been fully fit – the England striker used to ply his trade for Fleetwood in 2011/12, when he scored 31 league goals that earned him his move to Leicester.
“I hope Vardy plays,” Neal said before the match. “You want to play against the best players you can.”
It’s nice to see a goalkeeper more focused on competing at the highest level possible rather than what he’ll be eating after Pie-gate in last season’s FA Cup tie between Sutton United and Arsenal.
It remains a mystery whether Neal will be eating pizza every day this year. One assumes the club’s dietician would advise against it, especially if he wants to be in good shape for the replay at the King Power, when the Cod Army will hope to finish off the Foxes.
