Spurs 1-1 Leicester (PL2)

Samuel Shashoua's second-half equaliser halted Leicester City's winning run in a sometimes frustrating Premier League 2 outing at Hotspur Way on Friday afternoon.

The attacking midfielder pounced on the follow-up after his initial effort was saved by Foxes goalkeeper Max Bramley, cancelling out Sam Hughes' first-half header for the visitors.

Leicester arrived having claimed the scalps of Chelsea, Hertha Berlin, Carlisle United and Barnsley in their last four fixtures in all competitions – their 1-0 victory at League Two Carlisle in the Checkatrade Trophy earlier this month of particular note.

But after they started reasonably well and took the lead, with a midfield trio of Oliver Skipp, Luke Amos and Joe Pritchard we found a way to largely nullify the Foxes' direct approach, leaving the way clear for us to impose our style on the game after the break.

We did that in fits and starts without really hitting top gear, with Bramley denying Kazaiah Sterling and substitute Shayon Harrison, but the action ultimately fell flat and the points were shared.

Key action

Chances: Choudhury and Sterling Close - 9-19mins
Leicester started better and had a golden chance to take a ninth-minute lead when Christian Maghoma miscued a defensive header following George Thomas' deep cross, but skipper Hamza Choudhury could only glance his stooping header wide from six yards out. At the other end, Amos' challenge handed possession to Marcus Edwards and he played an incisive pass to send Sterling through on Bramley, but the goalkeeper got in the way of his shot. Foxes defender Josh Knight had to pick up the pieces after the ball hit Sterling and rebounded back towards goal.

Goal: Spurs 0-1 Leicester City - Sam Hughes - 35mins
Chances were hard to come by in the first period as, with contrasting styles, neither side was able to take the game by the scruff of the neck. However, Leicester found a breakthrough 10 minutes before the break as Connor Wood crossed from the left and Alfie Whiteman couldn't keep out Hughes' powerful header into the top corner.

Goal: Spurs 1-1 Leicester City - Samuel Shashoua - 65mins
Bramley wasn't unduly troubled by a couple of Edwards free-kicks from the outskirts of the box at the start of the second half while Choudhury continued to ask questions of our defence with long throws into the area. But we fashioned an equaliser on 65 minutes when Edwards picked up the ball just inside the box and fed Shashoua, whose first shot was saved by Bramley but the attacker tapped in the loose ball from close range.

Above: Luke Amos on the ball in the second half.

Chances: Sterling and Harrison nearly put us ahead - 72-78mins
Leicester's threat had tailed off by this point and you got the impression that if anyone would grab a winner, it would be us. Japhet Tanganga saw his header from a corner blocked on the line, Bramley instinctively saved Sterling's first-time shot from Shashoua's cross from the left with his foot and Harrison's left-footed strike from 16 yards was also kept out by the stopper as we pressed for a winner. A decisive goal never materialised, though.

Coach Wayne Burnett said

“At times we competed very well. We knew it was going to be a competitive game and that we had to be ready to fight and in terms of that, at times, we did well. We slightly switched off from a free-kick in the first half which led to their goal and that was disappointing because we’d worked on a lot of that during the week but we had some decent passages of play and some good opportunities to score more than one goal.

“We know our game, our identity and we’re not going to change that for anyone. We have to be brave and I thought we did that. It was two very contrasting styles and what Leicester do, they do very well. We had to compete and I think we did. We kept playing our way, tried to do the right things in terms of how we play and I thought at times we were in control and dominated the game. Once we scored, we had the momentum and we kept pushing forward. Leicester were always going to be a threat because of the way they play. They put the ball in the box at every opportunity and sometimes it’s difficult but you have to keep defending that and that’s what we needed to do better at certain points.”

Match data

Spurs: Whiteman, Marsh, Bennetts, Skipp, C Maghoma, Tanganga, S Shashoua, Pritchard (c, Harrison 61), Sterling (Tracey 81), Edwards, Amos. Substitutes (not used): Austin, Loft, Roles.

Leicester City: Bramley, Pascanu (Eppiah 70), Wood, Hughes, Knight, Johnson, Choudhury (c), Dewsbury-Hall (Kaba Sherif 46), Muskwe, Thomas, Gordon (Ndukwu 81). Substitutes (not used): Iversen, Martis.

Goals: Spurs - Shashoua 65; Leicester City - Hughes 35.

Yellow cards: Spurs - Bennetts 63; Leicester City - Thomas 90+2.

Referee: Samuel Allison.

Attendance: 189.

Next up

It's the North London derby next for our Under-23s as Arsenal visit the Training Centre in the Premier League 2 on Monday 23 October. Kick-off is at 12pm.