Leicester 2-2 West Ham: Leonardo Ulloa’s 94th minute penalty rescues 10-man Foxes
Leonardo Ulloa’s 94th minute penalty saved Jamie Vardy’s blushes as Leicester snatched a draw with West Ham to move eight points ahead of Tottenham in the Premier League title race.
The striker gave the Foxes the lead midway through the first half after a great breakaway move to stun West Ham but Vardy’s day was turned on his head when he picked up a second yellow card for diving.
Then West Ham scored twice in the final ten minutes through an Andy Carroll penalty and an Aaron Cresswell screamer to turn the game on its head.
But there was yet more drama as the Foxes got a penalty in the final seconds of the game.
The King Power stadium was bouncing prior to kick off but West Ham nearly managed to silence it after only two minutes when Dimitri Payet’s whipped free kick was met by Cheikhou Kouyate, who saw his header hit both posts and roll across the line into Kasper Schmeichel’s grateful clutches.
At the other end Robert Huth had a golden chance of his own when his header from Shinji Okazaki’s free kick grazed the outside of the post.
Then on 20 minutes, the inevitable happened as the Foxes broke rapidly with Riyad Mahrez laying on to N’Golo Kante who found Vardy to smash the ball home and add another chapter to Leicester’s fairytale season.
It was the Englishman’s 22nd Premier League goal of the season to level with countryman Harry Kane’s total.
After half time Vardy was inches away from doubling the lead but he couldn’t quite reach Okazaki’s dangerous cross.
But minutes later Vardy’’s game was over when he was judged to have dived under a challenge from Angelo Ogbonna and was shown his second yellow card of the game.
There was contact but the way the 29-year-old exaggerated his fall to the ground was enough for Jon Moss to reach for his cards, meaning Vardy will miss the Swansea match next week.
And West Ham nearly took advantage of their numerical advantage just after the hour mark but Winston Reid’s flicked header rebounded off the post, much to the relief of the Foxes in attendance.
However, with six minutes remaining referee Moss made another unpopular decision when he awarded West Ham a penalty after punishing Wes Morgan for holding on to Reid at a corner.
Andy Carroll stepped up and sent Schmeichel the wrong way for his fourth goal in three games.
And two minutes later the Hammers were ahead when Cresswell picked up the ball on the edge of the area and volleyed it beautifully into the top corner.
However, in the 94th minute Jeffrey Schlupp went down and was given a controversial penalty, which Ulloa gratefully converted to steal a point.