Riyad Mahrez could not have picked a better moment to score his first goal for Leicester City.

The 22-year-old, signed this January from Le Harve, tapped in a late equaliser to reaffirm the Premier League ambitions of Nigel Pearson’s squad when this east Midlands derby seemed lost.

Paul Konchesky had been given his marching orders, rather harshly, by referee Anthony Taylor with 30 minutes left and the score 2-1 in Nottingham Forest’s favour, but ten-man Leicester still attacked.

Jamie Paterson needlessly fouled Danny Drinkwater in 82nd minute to concede a penalty that Kevin Phillips saw saved, only for Matty James to square the rebound for substitute Mahrez.

By this point Billy Davies had been sent off too, directed to the stands at the interval for ‘aggressively’ questioning Taylor’s decision to only show Wes Morgan a yellow card when fouling Mackie for a penalty that Andy Reid converted to put Forest ahead.

Davies, who could now face an FA charge, argued the incident was a ‘clear goal-scoring opportunity’ and claimed there had been encroachment from a Leicester player for their equaliser. Jamie Vardy opened the scoring in the 29th minute before Paterson equalised ten minutes later.

‘The luckiest person in the stadium was Wes Morgan,’ Davies raged.

‘He should never have been on the pitch. It was blatant. I came in at half-time had an exchange of words with the referee, asked him why it was not a red card. He sent me to the stand and said it was too aggressive. Leicester should have finished the match with nine men.

‘If you look at their penalty kick, one of the Leicester players runs into the box. It should have been a retake.’

Whether Davies’ actions at half-time affected Taylor’s decision to dismiss Konchesky for a late tackle on Mackie by the touchline was a matter the Forest manager refused to speculate on.

Leicester deserve credit for extending their unbeaten run to 12 games and furthering their lead at the top of the Championship to eight points.

Forest extended their own undefeated streak to 14 but missed the opportunity to close the gap on second-place Burnley by more ahead of their encounter at Turf Moor on Saturday.

‘It’s a good point for us,’ said Pearson. ‘We’ve had to come from behind to get something from the game. Even down to ten men we showed a lot of spirit. I thought it was important for us to stay positive which is why we kept both strikers on.’

The Leicester manager added: ‘There’s an awful long way to go. People want to talk you up but that’s dangerous. There are a lot of sides that are very much in with a chance of getting promoted.’

—Daily Mail