SAINTS’ hopes of FA Cup glory are over for another year, after being edged out 1-0 by Leicester City in a tight contest at Wembley.

The only goal of the evening arrived 10 minutes into the second-half, when red-hot frontman Kelechi Iheanacho poached his 12th goal in 12 matches, converting at the second time of asking after good work by Jamie Vardy.

In truth, Saints barely tested Kasper Schmeichel in the Leicester goal, with a speculative Ibrahima Diallo strike the closest they came to levelling up the contest.

In the end, Brendan Rodgers’s Foxes closed out the win with relative ease, to progress into next month’s final against Chelsea, the first time Leicester have reached the showpiece event since 1969.

Ralph Hasenhuttl hinted after Monday night’s abject 3-0 defeat at West Brom that he would consider changes to his side. In the end it was just one alteration with Moussa Djenepo preferred to Theo Walcott. Dan N’Lundulu came in for the cup-tied Takumi Minamino among the substitutes.

Leicester made two changes from their loss at West Ham, with Ayoze Perez and Caglar Soyuncu starting, while James Maddison returned to the squad on the bench.

For the first time since December, Saints also had a live audience to entertain, with 4,000 spectators from the area around Wembley in attendance as part of a trial event as lockdown restrictions continue to ease.

Saints, seeking to reach the FA Cup final for the first time since 2003, looked nervy during a cagey start to the contest, particularly Diallo, who conceded possession before being booked after just five minutes for a late challenge on Vardy.

The long ball up for Danny Ings to chase looked like a possible outlet for Hasenhuttl’s charges, with Djenepo’s searching pass just evading the England frontman, as Schmeichel raced out to clear.

Leicester were snapping into challenges, but could not work Fraser Forster, who was well protected by a series of vital Jannik Vestergaard interventions.

A quick break did almost catch Saints out as the game threatened to liven up midway through the half, but Perez overhit his cross towards Iheanacho.

The best chance of the half soon followed. After Diallo lost the ball, the Foxes sprung forwards with Youri Tielemans releasing Vardy, who burst away from Jan Bednarek. However, he dinked his left-footed shot over the crossbar.

Leicester continued to crank up the pressure before the half was out with two well-struck Tielemans corners causing problems. Wilfred Ndidi glanced one just off target, before then nodding towards Jonny Evans at the back post, but Bednarek was there to make a block in the centre as the half ended goalless.

Saints finally registered their first shot of the evening four minutes into the second half, but it did not trouble Schmeichel, with Vestergaard heading over from a James Ward-Prowse free-kick.

But the deadlock was soon to be broken at the other end. After Bednarek failed to nip in ahead of Vardy, the striker used his pace to charge clear down the left. He crossed to strike partner Iheanacho, who got fortunate to see his initial wayward shot fall kindly back at his feet off Vestergaard. The Nigeria international made no mistake with his second shot, slotting past Forster left-footed, as Saints conceded in the FA Cup for the first time all season.

Hasenhuttl instantly turned to his bench, introducing Leicester-born Che Adams in place of Nathan Redmond.

And falling behind seemed to spur Saints into life. Adams had a shot blocked, before Diallo saw two long-range efforts flash just off target.

But it was a Leicester sub who looked the most like adding a second goal of the contest, as Maddison twice tried his luck, to no avail.

Saints, who had beaten the likes of Arsenal and Wolves during this run to the semis, could find no way back against Leicester, as their dreams were shattered.

Saints: Forster; Walker-Peters (Tella, 84), Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand (Salisu, 85); Ward-Prowse, Diallo; Djenepo (Walcott, 73), Armstrong; Redmond (Adams, 59), Ings.

Unused subs: Stephens, Ferry, Jankewitz, N’Lundulu, McCarthy (g/k).

Booked: Diallo, Bednarek.

Leicester: Schmeichel; Fofana, Evans, Soyuncu; Pereira (Albrighton, 60), Tielemans, Ndidi, Castagne; Perez (Maddison, 69), Iheanacho, Vardy.

Unused subs: Amartey, Thomas, Under, Choudhury, Mendy, Praet, Ward (g/k).

Booked: Soyuncu.

Referee: Chris Kavanagh.

VAR: Paul Tierney.