Harry Winks keeps Leicester flying with last-gasp winner against West Brom

Harry Winks scored a last-gasp winner as Leicester beat West Brom 2-1 in a dramatic finish to give their manager, Enzo Maresca, a winning first return to the Hawthorns. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 72nd-minute header – his sixth goal of the season – put the Championship leaders ahead and the midfielder then set up Winks in the fourth minute of stoppage time after the Albion substitute Josh Maja appeared to have rescued a point.

Maresca, who started his professional career at West Brom and played 47 games there between 1998 and 2000, will have been relieved as there was little between the teams, who both hit the goal frame in the first half. West Brom had a penalty claim turned down when Grady Diangana went down after it appeared he was pushed over in the box.

Albion then failed to react quickly enough when the goalkeeper Mads Hermansen played a poor pass out and it was intercepted, Brandon Thomas-Asante eventually having a shot blocked. The home side went even closer in the 25th minute when Cédric Kipré hit a post with the goalkeeper beaten after Matt Phillips’s corner had flicked off a couple of heads.

But Leicester hit the goal frame themselves when Kelechi Iheanacho’s low drive was deflected on to the near post by Darnell Furlong’s lunge. It looked like things might open up after the break when Diangana’s curling shot was deflected over the bar off Wout Faes. But instead it became very scrappy, with both teams guilty of giving the ball away in midfield and defences remained on top.

That almost changed when Wilfred Ndidi got on the end of a cross from substitute Abdul Fatawu, but his flicked header under pressure lacked the power to beat Alex Palmer, who fumbled before the ball was cleared.

The Ndidi-Fatawu link-up combined again to devastating effect in the 72nd minute. Fatawu spotted Ndidi’s run beyond the West Brom midfield in the inside right position and the latter crossed for Dewsbury-Hall to nod the ball home ahead of Furlong from six yards out.

Albion equalised in very scrappy fashion. Furlong’s throw-in was headed away by Faes and, when the ball came back in, Kipré helped it on – a grounded Leicester defender could only tee up Maja to prod home his first goal since February 2022.

But Leicester hit West Brom on the counter when they broke on a long throw-in and Iheanacho passed from inside his own half to Dewsbury-Hall, who ran 40 yards with the ball before drawing Palmer out and slipping in Winks for an open goal.