West Ham woeful for so long but their fans ended the day serenading “super David Moyes” and the spirit the Scot has ingrained into this side.
Just how important could Craig Dawson’s stoppage time header prove when we look at the table on the final day in May?
No side in the race for the Champions League places seem to be able to kick on and move ahead of a desperately inconsistent pack of contenders, but Moyes wants his side to cling on in there and with goals like this they are doing just that.
It was hardly a point they deserved, but one which could mean the world.
Jarrod Bowen fired the visitors ahead after ten minutes but from there they collapsed, exposing the flaky side many assumed was long gone under Moyes. It is not something we have seen from West Ham for a long time, but they managed to recover through the man who perhaps embodies what Moyes is doing at West Ham.
Dawson has proved a bargain at £2million since joining from Watford and has played out of his skin at times in this back line, offering no nonsense performances and never giving up - something certainly on show as he charged to meet Bowen’s late corner.
Moyes may have been expecting a tough day when he endured a setback even before kick-off.
Having stood by his decision to allow Kurt Zouma to play amid the chaos surrounding the 27-year-old following his act of animal cruelty, the Frenchman had to be replaced by Issa Diop in the starting XI after feeling unwell during the warm up.
It was quite the challenge for Diop who, only last weekend, was hooked at half-time against sixth-tier opposition in the FA Cup and then overlooked for Zouma, perhaps the most unpopular man in the country on Tuesday, against Watford.
The French defender was thrown in at the deep end here and looked to be on his way to a shaky showing when his first pass, meant for Aaron Cresswell, ended up in the stands. Moments later, however, Diop offered Moyes a reminder as to what he can do, opening up Leicester City with one touch as West Ham took the lead - the start of a superb performance from Diop.
The defender played a superb first time ball over the top of the home defence, finding the well-timed run of Bowen, who raced away from the blue shirts and towards Kasper Schmeichel.
It is a mark of how efficient Bowen has become in the final third that there was little question as to the outcome here. The England hopeful afforded himself one touch before directing the ball under Schmeichel and into the far corner for his seventh goal in as many games.
In swirling wind and rain neither side managed to produce anything in the way of attractive, flowing football, but with a lead established against a side short on confidence, West Ham were particularly wasteful.
The Foxes won a succession of corners following the goal as the Hammers struggled for control. Lukasz Fabianski had remained largely untroubled, but the visitors had not heeded the warning. Still they made silly, sloppy passes allowing Brendan Rodgers’s side a chance to move forward.
Cresswell, Moyes and Declan Rice gave Vladimir Coufal both barrels after the full-back played a wasteful ball forward to a blue shirt instead of switching into acres of space to his left. Minutes later, more sloppy play would be eventually punished.
From yet another corner, Leicester’s fifth of the first half, West Ham cracked as Cresswell threw an elbow at the ball and left Michael Oliver with no option but to point at the spot.
Youri Tielemans stepped up and fired a near unstoppable effort into the bottom corner.
Galvanised by that leveller on the verge of half-time, Rodgers’s side came out with far more purpose.
James Maddison should have done better with an effort he sent over the bar having found space in the box, but the chances kept coming.
After Bowen had seen a half-chance blocked by Daniel Amartey, Leicester pushed forward again. Harvey Barnes sent a wicked cross to the far post having been allowed to stroll through by Coufal, though Patson Daka was a fraction behind the ball and could not turn it in.
Pereira made no mistake a minute later when again Barnes was allowed to clip a cross from the left, where his full-back rose above Cresswell to direct a superb header into the top corner, leaving Fabianski stranded.
West Ham have been such a success under Moyes because they have been difficult to break down and so well drilled at the back, but this was nothing like the side the Scot has built. Rice was off the boil, Cresswell was enduring a nightmare and the hosts, who had not won in four before today, were moving through West Ham at will.
Moyes has called for those attacking players around Bowen to step up and return to their best form once more, but the wait goes on.
Pablo Fornals was ineffective while Antonio, who is now six games without a goal in all competitions, did not even manage a shot, let alone one on target.
Said Benrahma and Nikola Vlasic, sent on with ten minutes to go, injected some life and pushed West Ham forward but it appeared that it would all be too little too late, until Dawson struck.
No side have conceded more from corners than Leicester this season and few are more dangerous than West Ham so perhaps this should not have been so much of a surprise.
The goal was just as scrappy as the performance which proceeded it, surviving a VAR check with the ball coming off Dawson’s shoulder.
The muted celebrations showed that those in claret and blue felt they could have done far more today, but as all around them in the race for fourth struggle to kick on, this point could do wonders come the end of the campaign.
