Leicester denied an FA Cup win

Leicester City were harshly deprived of an FA Cup fourth round place when a late Tottenham penalty ensured the Foxes had to settle for a replay.

The home side were the better of the two in the first half; Leicester took a little more time to get going after Claudio Ranieri made eight changes from the side that faced Bournemouth.

Christian Eriksen gave Tottenham an early lead, slotting the ball into the bottom corner after Kasper Schmeichel could only parry Nacer Chadli’s deflected effort.

New signing Demarai Gray impressed in his Leicester debut and he was involved in the equalising goal. His fast delivery from a corner found Marcin Wasilewski who headed the ball past Michel Vorm after escaping his marker.

With the teams level at half-time Ranieri decided to bring on Shinji Okazaki to provide more support for Leonardo Ulloa up front, replacing N’Golo Kante.

This proved to be an inspired change as the Japanese international transformed the game in Leicester’s favour. Okazaki made a well-timed run into the Tottenham box before skilfully jinking his way past two defenders and finishing at the second attempt.

The Foxes didn’t look like conceding in the second period and didn’t deserve to either. A completely different defence from the league games dealt with any pressure with relative ease but a hugely controversial decision from referee Robert Madley handed Tottenham a fortunate lifeline.

Nathan Dyer was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area as he turned back towards goal, though there was clearly no intent shown by the winger. The appeal from Danny Rose may have persuaded the referee but the decision was outrageous in the eyes of most viewers.

Harry Kane stepped up and converted the spot-kick to set up a replay; an extra game that neither side would have wanted at the start of the match and Leicester will feel they should already have their name in the hat for the fourth round.

The result is harsh on the Foxes but this takes nothing away from a strong team performance. There has been a lot of criticism over the depth of Leicester’s squad but today they showed quality with almost an entirely different starting eleven.

The youngsters were the pick of the bunch with Gray making an impact on his first appearance and 19-year-old Ben Chilwell looking composed and solid at left-back.

Both teams now look ahead to Wednesday’s game at the same venue as Tottenham welcome the Foxes back to White Hart Lane for the Premier League fixture.