THERE was no doubt in David Flitcroft’s mind who the star of the show was as Bury bowed out of the Capital One Cup with their heads held high on Tuesday night.

For 30 minutes in the second half it looked like the Shakers could pull off an upset after Danny Mayor scored his third goal in four games to pull them back to 2-1.

But up stepped Joe Dodoo with two late strikes, adding to an audacious first-half volley, to seal a hat-trick on his Leicester debut and leave Flitcroft drooling.

“We had a meeting yesterday for two or three hours when we’ve identified potential targets and I’ve got a new one now in the boy that played against us on the right side,” he joked, finding the gallows humour in a 4-1 score-line that flattered the Premier League visitors.

“I’m just going to fill Claudio with some red wine and try to get him signed up.

“I liked the look of him, for sure. He might not be leaving Gigg Lane tonight.”

Leicester looked every inch the Premier League’s in-form side in the first 45 minutes, despite manager Claudio Ranieri making 11 changes to the team that started in Saturday's draw against Spurs.

Flitcroft’s job was made even harder after losing experienced midfielder Tom Soares to a hamstring injury in the warm-up, further depleting a thread-bare squad that was already missing Leon Clarke (hamstring) and Kelvin Etuhu (foot), as well as Ryan Lowe, Danny Nardiello and Keil O'Brien.

But after going into the break 2-0 down to goals from Dodoo and Andrej Kramaric, having been completely outplayed, Bury showed great character to force their way back into the tie.

And once Mayor fired home Tom Pope’s knockdown in the 50th minute they looked capable of at least forcing extra time.

“The score-line, when people see it that have not been in the stadium, looks like a completely dominant, over-powering performance from Leicester,” said Flitcroft.

“But we were really in the game at 2-1. We were pressing, causing them problems, getting the ball in the box.

“Their third goal, he’s offside by two yards. It’s a clear decision that if he (the referee’s assistant) gets it right we have still got six or seven minutes to go to really try to cause an upset.

“We had the momentum, we had an intensity about our game and we had the energy.

“We didn’t look in trouble at all second half.

“So I’m disappointed it’s ended up 4-1, for sure, but the second-half performance gives me a lot of hope.”

Argentinian striker Leonardo Ulloa was Bury’s main tormentor early in the game, going close with a header before testing the Shakers’ England Under-21s goalkeeper Christian Walton with a low shot in the eighth minute.

Walton was forced into making another smart save to deny Kramaric from N’Golo Kante's pull-back in the 21st minute as Leicester continued to pour forward.

Dodoo finally opened the scoring in the 25th-minute with a piece of individual brilliance. The 20-year-old midfielder took three touches to score, one to control the ball on the right of the Bury box, the next to flick the ball over the head of left-back Chris Hussey and the third to lash it in off the underside of the crossbar.

The Shakers were stung into action and Jacob Mellis had their first serious effort on goal in the 30th minute, curling the ball from the edge of the box, but it was easy for Leicester’s veteran keeper Mark Schwarzer.

The contest looked over bar the shouting, though, when the Foxes went 2-0 up five minutes before half time, Kramaric picking his spot in the bottom corner from 20 yards.

Flitcroft made a double substitution at the break, switching Hallam Hope, who replaced the unfortunate Soares in the starting line-up, with in-form striker Danny Rose, while 17-year-old youth graduate Matty Foulds was handed his first-team debut, coming on for Hussey.

The manager’s show of intent lit a fuse under his players.

After Mayor pulled a goal back, Rose missed a fantastic opportunity to equalise, pulling a Mellis through-ball just wide.

As Bury grew in confidence they more than matched Leicester in the closing stages without ever quite creating another clear chance to equalise.

Dodoo finally sealed a third-round tie at home to West Ham with his second goal in the 86th minute, finishing off a break with an angled shot.

Home fans in the South Stand were convinced the goalscorer was offside in the build-up, and they charged towards the assistant linesman.

Stewards stopped a full-scale pitch invasion, but when Dodoo added a fourth for good measure on 90 minutes, making Walton pay for a botched clearance, there was an unseemly melee on the sidelines as Leicester players ignited the situation with their celebrations.

Foxes defender Liam Moore was substituted for his own safety, but the incident did not mar a memorable night at Gigg Lane that could easily have ended on a much happier note.

BURY (4-2-3-1): Walton 7; Riley 6, Nathan Cameron 7, Peter Clarke 6, Chris Hussey 4 (Foulds 6 46), Danny Pugh 6, Andrew Tutte 8, Hallam Hope 4 (Rose 7 46), Jacob Mellis 7 (Jones 6 62), Danny Mayor 8, Tom Pope 6.

Not used: Lainton, Sedgwick, Burgess.

LEICESTER CITY (4-4-2): Schwarzer; Benalouane, Moore (De Laet 90), Wasilweski, Fuchs; Dodoo, Hammond, Inler, Kante; Kramaric (Schlupp 65), Ulloa.

Not used: Simpson, Chilwell, Panayitou, Olukanmi, Maddison.

Scorers: Bury – Mayor 50. Leicester – Dodoo 25, 86 & 90, Kramaric 40.

Yellow cards: Bury – Jones 70.

Referee: Andrew Madley.

Attendance: 4,914 (1,327 visiting).

Star man: Andrew Tutte – Danny Mayor may have applied the finish to get Bury back into the cup tie but it was Tutte’s tireless running in the engine room that continued the momentum right up to the final five minutes. The Liverpudlian midfielder is often overlooked and there is no doubt he could do more in the final third to make himself stand out, but when he is firing in the middle of the park the Shakers are a completely different prospect. This was another impressive display from the former Rochdale man.