Leicester 2 West Ham 2: Leonardo Ulloa penalty earns Foxes vital late draw in Premier League title race after Jamie Vardy red card

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Simon Peach17 April 2016

Leicester City showed impressive character, quality and resilience to recover from Jamie Vardy's sending-off and a West Ham United comeback to eke out what could prove a crucial point in the race for the Premier League title.

Claudio Ranieri's men were supposed to be relegation fodder and odds of 5,000/1 underlined just how unlikely a title tilt looked to be, yet this has been one of the most incredible seasons in English football history.

The King Power Stadium faithful went through the whole gamut of emotions after goalscorer Vardy's controversial dismissal paved the way for West Ham to go ahead through Andy Carroll's spot-kick and a wonderful Aaron Cresswell strike.

But Leonardo Ulloa's stoppage-time penalty secured the Foxes a 2-2 draw.

The draw stretches Leicester's lead over second-placed Tottenham to eight points, but Mauricio Pochettino's men can cut the gap at Stoke on Monday as an amazing campaign heads towards a dramatic ending.

This never looked like being a straightforward afternoon after Kasper Schmeichel pushed a Cheikhou Kouyate header on to both posts inside the opening seconds before Vardy opened the scoring in the 18th minute.

However, the England striker's sending-off for simulation early in the second half blew the game wide open, with Winston Reid clipping a post.

Referee Jonathan Moss then further angered the home support by adjudging Wes Morgan had fouled the Hammers defender in the area.

Substitute Carroll slotted home the resulting spot-kick in front of watching England manager Roy Hodgson, who then saw uncapped left-back Cresswell highlight his quality with a sublime strike across goal and into the roof of the net.

There was another twist to come, though, as Moss pointed to the spot at the other end after ruling Carroll had taken down Jeffrey Schlupp and Ulloa held his nerve to equalise and send the Leicester faithful into raptures..

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