Ben Wilmot brace for Stoke denies Gary Rowett win in first game as Foxes boss

Gary Rowett’s first match in charge of Leicester ended as a 2-2 draw after Stoke captain Ben Wilmot completed his brace late on to secure a share of the points.

Wilmot struck in the last minute of normal time after goals from Divine Mukasa and Harry Winks had cancelled out his early opener for the home side.

The result sees the Foxes remain in the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone, one point behind West Brom in the relative safety of 21st place.

And the overall feeling will be one of frustration for Rowett, who was appointed on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before Leicester launched an appeal against a six-point deduction that left them in the bottom three.

The hosts came flying out of the traps and took the lead in the third minute, with Wilmot heading home from Aaron Cresswell’s brilliant cross from the left.

Five minutes later, Wilmot went close to doubling both Stoke’s and his own tally, but he headed wide from Sorba Thomas’ delivery.

Mark Robins’ side remained firmly on the front foot as the first half progressed, nearly making it 2-0 midway through when Cresswell’s deflected shot on the half volley was really well saved by former Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

And, as the half-hour mark approached, Tatsuki Seko failed to divert a follow-up attempt goalwards after Ashley Phillips’ header hit the crossbar – only for the latter to be adjudged to have been offside anyway.

Down at the other end, Leicester’s first meaningful effort of the afternoon saw captain Ricardo Pereira’s venomous strike from just outside the area pushed over the crossbar by Tommy Simkin as they went into half-time trailing.

An equaliser arrived for the Foxes just seven minutes into the second half, though, as Manchester City loanee Mukasa’s left-footed cross beat everyone and left Simkin with no chance of keeping the ball out of the net.

Stoke had an excellent chance to immediately retake the lead, but Milan Smit fired a volley wide having met Seko’s cross at the far post.

Tensions threatened to boil over in the 70th minute when Thomas and Leicester substitute Luke Thomas clashed on the touchline, both players receiving a booking.

Mukasa missed a great chance to put the visitors in front shortly afterwards, connecting well with a volley from Thomas’ cross but sending it wide of the mark.

And with the pressure really starting to build from Rowett’s side, Winks pounced on Mukasa’s lovely lay-off and bent the ball into the bottom corner to make it 2-1.

Leicester came close to adding a third goal with 10 minutes of normal time remaining, Stephy Mavididi shooting just wide following a neat pass from Mukasa.

And it proved to be a costly miss as Wilmot was on hand to make his way into the box and tap home Thomas’ cross to make it 2-2.

There was still time for plenty of drama down at the other end, with Simkin denying Joe Aribo with a great save, Ben Nelson’s looping header hitting the crossbar and Thomas’ header hitting the inside of a post – all in the dying moments of a highly entertaining match.