Stoke 2 - Leicester 2: Peter Crouch proves Potters insurance policy yet again

AN England striker looking unstoppable as he scored a record goal. It should be just what the watching Gareth Southgate wanted.

Stoke vs Leicester Peter Crouch goalREUTERS

Peter Crouch scored a late equaliser for Stoke

Except for one detail. Peter Crouch will turn 37 in January. If he makes it to the World Cup, it will be in the same way he went to Euro 2016. As a pundit.

“Never say never,” said Stoke boss Mark Hughes. But nowadays Crouch is a part-time footballer, a specialist substitute and a very good one. Crouch equalled Shola Ameobi’s Premier League record of 142 appearances from the bench.

He equalised four minutes later with his 52nd headed goal in the division. No one has got more. He is Stoke’s insurance policy. Bringing him on pays off. “Everyone is saying he is Plan B,” said Hughes. “If it continues, he may be Plan A.”

But the encouraging element for Southgate was that two younger Englishmen made his trip to the Potteries worthwhile. Jack Butland made a superb save from Shinji Okazaki and a fine one from Riyad Mahrez. He is pressing his case to displace Joe Hart in Russia.

And Demarai Gray may yet be on the plane. Southgate is showing he is willing to promote youth. So is Claude Puel. Leicester’s new boss gave the winger a place in the starting 11. He gave Gray a new contract. Gray has given Leicester a fillip with speed, skill and a series of crosses.

He excelled. Flair players flourished for both sides. Leicester’s revitalised Mahrez offered a reminder of why he was the PFA Player of the Year two seasons ago.

Stoke vs Leicester Riyad Mahrez goalREUTERS

Riyad Mahrez had put Leicester 2-1 ahead

Stoke’s Xherdan Shaqiri twice sparked a comeback to show why he was nicknamed “the Alpine Messi.”  

Leicester struck first. Vicente Iborra faced Leicester in the Champions League last season. Now he scored for them in the Premier League, the summer signing from Sevilla hammering home after Stoke struggled to deal with Mahrez’s corner.

Iborra ought to be hard to miss. He is 6ft 3in. Stoke still left him unmarked three times in quick succession.

With better finishing, he would have had a hat-trick. In the end, he went off injured. So did Bobby Madley. A calf strain meant he literally was not fit to referee.

Before then, Shaqiri struck back with a rarity. His last six league goals had come from outside the box. This was stylishly taken from close range, for him, of about 12 yards after a deft flick from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.

Mahrez put Leicester back ahead, surging away from Erik Pieters, skipping inside Kevin Wimmer and shooting under Butland, but Shaqiri took the corner Crouch met with a thumping header. “He changed the game,” Hughes said.

Stoke vs Leicester Peter Crouch goalREUTERS

Peter Crouch came off the bench to back Stoke's crucial leveller

So did the Leicester keeper. “Kasper Schmeichel made a couple of outstanding saves, not least the one at the end,” Hughes added. A flying stop deprived Kurt Zouma of an injury-time winner.

“We could have lost but it is difficult to accept this draw,” said Puel, denied a second successive win.

“But Peter Crouch is always difficult to defend against.”

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?