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LONDON. — Leicester City stumbled on their march towards the Premier League title by dropping two points in a 2-2 draw with West Ham United despite a last-minute equaliser from Leonardo Ulloa at the King Power Stadium yesterday.

Leicester finished the match with 10 men after goalscorer Jamie Vardy was sent off early in the second half for a second yellow card.

West Ham almost scored in the second minute when Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel saved a header from Cheikhou Kouyate, tipping the ball on to his left-hand post before it rolled across the line and hit the other upright.

Vardy put Leicester ahead after a lightning counter-attack in the 18th minute with a left-foot shot into the corner of the net before picking up his first booking for a late challenge on Kouyate.

His second yellow came early in the second half when referee Jon Moss ruled he dived looking for a foul and the match gradually swung West Ham’s way.

They equalised through an 84th-minute Andy Carroll penalty after Wes Morgan hauled down Winston Reid and looked to have won the game two minutes later when Aaron Cresswell scored a stunning goal with a fierce shot from the edge of the box which dipped and swerved as it flew past Schmeichel.

But with only seconds of stoppage time remaining Leicester equalised when Ulloa scored from the spot after Carroll fouled Jeffrey Schlupp.

Ranieri showed no signs of nerves after the game in which goalscorer Jamie Vardy was sent off.

“The sending-off changed the match,” Ranieri told Sky Sports.

“But I judge my players not the referee, the referee is not my matter. Our performance was fantastic, this is our soul, we play every match with this, blood, heart and soul, it was magnificent. This point is very important psychologically.”

Leicester took the lead through a typically swift breakaway after 18 minutes with Vardy providing the final touch for his 22nd league goal of the season.

West Ham equalised when Andy Carroll converted a penalty and went ahead through Aaron Cresswell four minutes from time before Ulloa saved the point. Leicester’s Danny Simpson also saw it as one point gained rather than two dropped.

“We have shown our team spirit and togetherness today,” the full back said.

“We will always fight to the death. We cannot control other things, we can fight and work hard. Jeff Schlupp did well to get a penalty and Leonardo Ulloa slotted it away when there was a lot of pressure on him.

“I think that will turn out to be a massive point, not many teams go 2-1 down and do what we did, psychologically it will give us a massive boost.” — Reuters.