Puel salutes 10-man Leicester´s spirit

Leicester City manager Claude Puel saluted his side’s spirit after they bounced back from James Maddison’s early red card to secure a 1-1 Premier League draw at Brighton and Hove Albion.

The Foxes had already fallen behind to Glenn Murray’s 15th-minute opener when Maddison received two bookings in as many first-half minutes – the second for simulation as he threw himself to the floor in the box in trying to win a foul against Shane Duffy.

They responded well to that setback, however, and claimed a share of the spoils 11 minutes from time when Jamie Vardy scored from the penalty spot.

Speaking to LCFC TV, Puel said: “We’re happy with the point. We dominated a lot of the second half with 10 men. It seemed like we played the second half with 11 men.

“I think it’s a fantastic second half. Of course, we had to correct some aspects in the first half, but after the difficulties, we had the capacity to react together and give our best.

“I’m proud about our fighting spirit and good play, also because we played very well in the second half with a lot of effort, quality and desire. We deserved to win this game in the end.

Jamie Vardy’s penalty earns ten-man City a point at the AMEX Stadium.#BhaLei pic.twitter.com/xcgtnRAC5U

— Leicester City (@LCFC) November 24, 2018

“I’m happy about our collective reaction. We pushed a lot to come back in the game and also to score another goal.

“Of course, it’s a shame we conceded a goal and a sending off, but after, about our spirit and collective performance, I am happy.”

Brighton manager Chris Hughton, meanwhile, was left to rue his side’s inability to make their numerical superiority count and kill the game off before Vardy’s late intervention.

He told a media conference: “I thought we had ample opportunities to increase our lead and got into some really good areas.

“The longer the game goes on against a team of their quality with the pace they’ve got – despite being down to 10 men – they were going to be a threat on the counter attack.

“We had some really good opportunities in the final third to increase our lead, which would have made life easier for ourselves. When you’re playing against 10 men, you’ve got to make it count.

“It’s a poor penalty that we conceded and it’s a really good opportunity missed. You’ve got to be able to kill the game off, but we weren’t able to do that.”