Leicester City captain Jamie Vardy took matters into his own hands on Saturday by blowing the referee’s whistle to stop play after the official had gone down injured.
Midway through the first half of Leicester’s Premier League game with fellow relegated side Southampton, referee David Webb suffered an accidental collision with Leicester’s Jordan Ayew and collapsed to the floor holding his head while play continued around him.
Vardy – who will leave Leicester at the end of the season after 13 years at the club – jumped into action, lifting up Webb’s arm to blow his whistle, which was wrapped around the referee’s right hand, in order to stop the game.
Webb, making his Premier League debut, was treated by medics and got to his feet before being removed from the pitch and replaced in the middle by fourth official Sam Barrott.
Earlier, Vardy had scored his 144th Premier League goal, taking him level in the charts with Robin van Persie. Ayew then added a second after scoring a rebound from his own free-kick which had hit the wall.
The delay in treating Webb and readying Barrott to replace him led to 12 minutes being added on to the end of the first half at the King Power Stadium.
