JOB done for Leicester. It’s fair to say they enjoy the League Cup. They lifted it twice in four years during the Silver Age of Martin O’Neil. 

They also reached the semi-finals in the most recent two seasons, on both occasions only losing on penalties to eventual winners and trophy hoovers Manchester City. 

At St James’ Park on Wednesday night it was their turn to win the spot-kick lottery as they navigated a tricky away tie against Premier League-side Newcastle.

Whether this was a useful barometer for Leicester’s performance so far this season is a different issue. For their part, the home side made seven changes and the game was played in a more than half empty stadium. 

The atmosphere was flat, giving it the eerie feel of a friendly no-one really wanted to be watching.

Leicester had 68 per cent possession and used that dominance to create 10 chances, yet just one — the deflected free-kick from which James Maddison scored — was on target. 

Jamie Vardy had a quiet game. Leicester’s reliance on him is stark.

This is the third game in which he has failed to find the net this season, all of which have been draws after 90 minutes. 

Since Brendan Rodgers took the reins at the Leicester in March last year, Leicester have played 14 games yet they have won just once when their No 9 hasn’t scored. 

On the face of it, the Foxes are a Vardy hamstring injury away from a debilitating goal drought. The message for their opponents is clear: stop Vardy and you will have a good chance of stopping Leicester.

The front line is the one area of the club that has not been successfully upgraded since the miraculous title triumph in 2016. 

Since then the club has spent some £100 million on strikers. Two of them (Islam Slimani, £28m, and Ahmed Musa, £16.6m) have been shipped out either permanently or on loan.

A third, Kelchi Iheanacho who arrived as a 20-year-old with much promise and a hefty £25m price tag, may as well have been. 

He now exudes the air of a man who could not hit a cow’s arse with a banjo. He was not involved in the match-day squad against Newcastle. 

It is telling that for the second game in a row Rodgers would prefer to have a bench with no striking options than involve Iheanacho. He has effectively become a ghost player.

The fourth striker is Ayoze Perez, prized away from Newcastle for £30m in the summer. He was subdued in this cup tie, perhaps because he was greeted by the tiresome jeers and boos that now seem de rigeur for any player returning to a former club. 

Perhaps it was because of Rodgers’s insistence on playing him on the right of a front three. This is not the position Perez (eventually) thrived in under Rafa Benitez and he is struggling out on the wing. 

It is insightful that on Saturday against Sheffield United a tactical tweak which brought Perez beside Vardy in a front two, in turn freeing Maddison up to play just behind them was the trigger for Leicester to take all three points. 

At the other end of the pitch Leicester are coping very well without Harry Maguire. There was widespread scepticism when he was not replaced with a big-money signing in the summer. 

However, for those who cared to pay attention, it was obvious the club had prepared for his departure a year earlier when they brought in Johnny Evans for a bargain £3m plus Caglar Soyuncu and Filip Benkovic for a combined £32m. 

With Evans playing regularly last season, Soyuncu is arguably Maguire’s replacement. Like the Englishman, he is strong in the air and comfortable on the ball and given his pace he may arguably be a more rounded player. 

At 23, his best years should be ahead of him.

The midfield triumvirate of young Englishmen Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Hamza Choudhury acquitted themselves well. The latter was withdrawn at half-time after receiving a booking for a scything challenge on Matt Ritchie. 

Replays show Choudhury got the ball cleanly but his follow through lacked control.

After the game, Newcastle boss Steve Bruce said it should have been a red (neatly ensuring the media focus was not on his own team’s failings). 

That’s debatable, but there is a danger that following Choudhury’s dismissal in the U21s Euros for a horror tackle on Jonathan Bamba (who was thankfully not seriously injured) the youngster will get an unwanted reputation which overshadows his talent.

Leicester face Bournemouth at home tomorrow. It was a fixture they won comfortably last season and a repeat will see them head into the international break unbeaten, in the top four and still in the League Cup; not a bad return.

Yet for all the promise, the creativity and flair in midfield and the defensive solidity they seem to be building after the departure of Maguire there is a nagging doubt that a lack of goals will be their undoing this season.