Jamie Vardy inspired a late Leicester comeback as they came from two down to draw 2-2 with Brighton and Hove Albion.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side battled back to maintain his unbeaten start as Leicester boss and create a five-point gap on the bottom three.
The Seagulls suffered their second disappointment of the week, after already losing to Fulham, and will now be tasked with getting back to winning ways against their rivals Crystal Palace, live on Sky Sports, next Sunday.
A wasteful finishing display from Brighton in the first half – after Joao Pedro and Kaoru Mitoma both put chances wide – was rectified just before the break by Tariq Lamptey’s stunning effort to open the scoring.
The defender collected the ball outside the area, cut in on his weaker left-foot and curled it into the top corner, leaving Mads Hermansen helpless in the process.
It was only the new boss’ second half-time team talk since taking over from Steve Cooper – but he seemed to get a reaction out of his players.
Leicester City’s James Justin (left) and Brighton ‘s Kaoru Mitoma battle for the ball
The hosts played with more intent after the restart. Vardy saw a well-worked move end in a blocked shot and went close with a header later on.
The home side’s hopes of walking away with a result were dampened after Minteh climbed off the bench, raced through on goal and drilled Brighton’s second into the bottom corner but Leicester responded immediately.
Vardy kick-started the impressive comeback with a neat finish at the back-post before laying the ball off to Bobby De Cordova-Reid, who tapped home and completed the stunning late turnaround in just six minutes.
Sunday 15th December 1:00pm
Kick off 2:00pm
More to follow…
