|
Harry Kane came off the bench to rescue Tottenham and keep their FA Cup hopes alive as his late penalty earned them a replay against Leicester in a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane. The Foxes had looked on course for another impressive victory before Kane hammered his 14th goal of the season after Nathan Dyer was penalised for handball with a little over a minute remaining. Christian Eriksen had given the hosts an early lead, but Marcin Wasilewski headed Leicester level before substitute Shinji Okazaki's early second-half goal looked to have settled the tie in favour of Claudio Ranieri's men. But Pochettino threw on Kane with 22 minutes remaining and the contest ended in a draw, meaning by the time January is out the two sides will have met on three occasions. Between them, the teams made 15 changes from their previous Premier League matches, and a similar number of alterations is likely when the Foxes return to Spurs for a top-four clash on Wednesday. They will then do battle at the King Power Stadium for a place in round four of the FA Cup. Tottenham opened the scoring with their first meaningful attack as Josh Onomah fed the onrushing Nacer Chadli, whose shot took a deflection and was punched away by Foxes goalkeeeper Kasper Schmeichel. Unfortunately for the Denmark international, the ball landed straight at the feet of Eriksen, who made no mistake in guiding it back past his compatriot and into the corner. The hosts then enjoyed a spell of dominance but, other than an Eriksen free-kick straight at Schmeichel, they did not fashion another chance. Wasilewski was booked for the foul on Danny Rose that led to the Eriksen set-piece but the Poland defender, playing just his fifth game of the campaign, then headed Leicester level as he lost Toby Alderweireld to power Demarai Gray's corner past Michel Vorm. The fact that Wasilewski's header was the first touch by a Leicester player in the Tottenham penalty area told the story of the opening half-hour and there was little else in the way of the chances as the first half petered out. Ranieri decided to introduce Okazaki at the break to give his side more attacking options, and his decision was vindicated a little over two minutes later. The Japan international collected the ball and eased through a couple of Tottenham challenges before hitting a shot straight at Vorm -- only for the rebound to fall to him to slot away his fourth goal of the season. Pochettino decided to call upon Nabil Bentaleb and top scorer Kane with time running out, and it was the former who stung the palms of Schmeichel with a rasping effort with just five minutes remaining. But England striker Kane levelled from the spot after Dyer was adjudged to have handled when Rose looked to break into the box.
|
LEI
