The Foxes took the lead twice but the Potters found a way to answer both times to avoid their sixth league loss this season
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SUPER-SUB Peter Crouch came off the bench to salvage a valuable point for Stoke – and underline his tag as the best bench player in the business right now.
The 36-year-old powered a Xherdan Shaqiri corner beyond Kasper Schmeichel to make a mug of England stopper Harry Maguire and Christian Fuchs who both failed to deal with his towering threat.
It was the third time this season Crouch has come off the bench to transform his side’s result and took him just four minutes from replacing Ramadan Sobhi to make his point.
Crouchy also salvaged a crucial point against West Brom and turned one point into three against Southampton to make it four points in total the former England striker has rescued for Mark Hughes – not bad going for a part-time Potter!
Mark Hughes named an unchanged team from the side which won at Watford last week – the first time he has done so in 23 matches.
However there was a bizarre early substitution when match ref Bobby Madley signalled he had tweaked a hamstring and had to be replaced by fourth official Jon Moss.
Jamie Vardy must have given a silent groan as Moss was the man who controversially sent him off for diving against West Ham in the run-in to Leicester’s title-winning season.
However it didn’t seem to rattle Claude Puel’s men who started by far the brighter of the two sides and stormed in front after 33 minutes.
Riyad Mahrez swept in a corner and Harry Maguire, watched by England boss Gareth Southgate, rose above Wes Morgan and Kurt Zouma to knock the ball into the mix.
Vicente Iborra was the first to react as the Spanish midfielder pounced on the loose ball before lashing it beyond Jack Butland from nine yards for his first Leicester goal since his £12.5million summer move from Sevilla.
Stoke looked ragged at the back and Zouma almost handed the Foxes a second on a plate when he misjudged a through ball and allowed it to slip under his boot.
Mahrez raced clear on goal but to his credit Zouma showed an extraordinary turn of pace to get back and clean up his own mess with a desperate saving tackle.
Jack Butland then produced a point blank save to deny Shinji Okazaki as he somehow managed to touch over the Japanese striker’s netbound header.
Stoke were at sixes-and-sevens when they only sent one man out to deal with a Leicester short corner, which ended with Iborra sending a free header over.
However the Potters somehow survived and made Leicester pay for their wastefulness in front of goal when they equalised after 39 minutes.
Maguire gave Maxim Choupo-Moting too much time and space to swivel and play the ball into the gaping hole the England defender had left behind him.
Christian Fuchs was slow to react to the danger, allowing Xherdan Shaqiri to burst through and calmly slam the ball beyond the hopelessly exposed Kasper Schmeichel.
Riyad Mahrez restored Leicester’s lead on the hour mark when he cut inside Erik Pieters then Kevin Wimmer before beatin Jack Butland with a shot which slipped through the England keeper’s fingers.
However Crouch made sure he had the last word.
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