There are moments in the maddest of seasons that lend themselves to the feeling that somehow this is meant to be for Leicester City.
Even as their five-game winning run came to an end, a 2-2 draw produced two, bookending the match.
When, after 75 seconds, Cheikhou Kouyate’s header struck both posts and rolled agonisingly along the Leicester line, without going in, the stars seemed to be aligning.
When, in the 95th minute, Leonardo Ulloa stroked in the most pressurised of penalties, a game of emotional extremes ended with the feelgood factor restored.
Ten-man Leicester had rescued a point from the jaws of defeat. The equation had altered. They only require eight points now. The countdown continues.
And yet, for the first time in weeks, perhaps there is no longer an inevitability about the improbable becoming reality, about the underdogs being crowned champions.
Every great fairytale requires a villain. Seconds after Aaron Cresswell put West Ham United ahead, the Leicester crowd alighted on their chosen antihero.
“Two-one to the referee,” they chorused. They make for easy scapegoats and Jonathan Moss had officiated a difficult fixture, notable for mistimed tackles, penalty-box bouts of push-and-shove and a general willingness to stray beyond the boundaries of the laws.
• Read more: Stars have aligned for Leicester City, with Kante, Mahrez and Vardy shining brightest
• Also see: Leonardo Ulloa saves Leicester City, cancels out Aaron Cresswell's screamer for West Ham – in pictures
The accusation has been levelled, not entirely fairly, at his colleagues that they have been caught up in the romance of Leicester’s rise and afraid to rule against the league leaders.
Moss did not duck a decision. He made three, two incurring the wrath of the Leicester crowd. The most generous, and the only indication the occasion was getting to him, was when he ruled Andy Carroll tripped Jeff Schlupp, affording Ulloa the chance to equalise.
The temptation for Leicester to brand Moss the bogeyman who was ruining the beautiful dream began when he expelled the scorer of their opener.
Leicester are the outsiders, but that does not automatically position them on the moral high ground.
Jamie Vardy’s season started under a cloud when he was filmed using a racist term in a casino. After being cautioned for fouling Kouyate, he was deservedly dismissed for diving in an illicit attempt to procure a penalty.
This, presumably, was not what the Hollywood scriptwriter who is trying to bring Vardy’s story to the silver screen had in mind.
His leading man’s punishment is suspension for Sunday’s game against Swansea City. Claudio Ranieri, Tinkerman turned paragon of continuity, will have to alter his starting 11 for the first time in almost two months.
Leicester may have to alter their method of set-piece defending. Wes Morgan and Robert Huth, those physical forces, twin totems of defiance, have plenty of practice in pushing and shoving, tugging and blocking.
Huth had escaped scot-free when Winston Reid was sent tumbling to the floor in the Leicester box, seconds before Vardy sped away to score.
Both had been warned by Moss before Morgan borrowed a tactic from Leicester’s most successful sporting side – historically, anyway – the rugby-playing Tigers, as he hauled Reid down.
Carroll drilled in the penalty. For the first time in 574 minutes of football, spread over 47 days, Leicester had conceded. For the first time in two minutes, they let a goal in when Cresswell struck.
Yet this was no hard-luck story. Leicester have spirit in abundance, a trait they have displayed all season.
Perhaps they had luck, too, when Moss penalised Carroll. Ulloa held his nerve, just as Leicester have done all season.
Moss was nevertheless escorted off the pitch by security guards at the end but Leicester, despite the drama of a frenetic afternoon, remain in a more comfortable position.
The chances are that Moss will merely form a subplot in this stunning story.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
