Criticism for goal drought did not hurt Vardy confidence

( Reuters) - Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy said his confidence never sagged despite criticism for his goal drought which he finally ended in Saturday's 4-2 Premier League win over Manchester City.

The England international has struggled to replicate his stunning form which aided Leicester's fairytale Premier League triumph last season.

Former England captain Alan Shearer advised him to work harder, while Michael Owen said the 29-year-old was not a "natural finisher".

"I don't listen to that," Vardy, who notched up his first Leicester City hat-trick on Saturday, told British media.

"He (Owen) can say what he wants. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I am not going to read into anything like that."

"It is up to them what they say, I will just get on with it, work on the training field every day and try to take it into the matches."

Vardy hoped the impressive win over Pep Guardiola's side would help Leicester recapture the form that saw them crowned league champions.

"Even though we haven't been getting the results and a few of the performances were a bit below-par, we knew deep down we were still the team we were last season," he added.

"On that performance, we have definitely got that back."

Currently 14th in the league table with 16 points, three above the relegation zone after 15 games, Leicester travel to face 12th placed Bournemouth on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)