Potters chief stands by Jack after keeper’s howler gifts Foxes a point

sometimes unlucky,” said Puel. “At the end, perhaps the draw is a fair result because we can win this game and we can lose it also.

“In the second half we had a good reaction in the last 30 minutes. Perhaps we deserved to score more goals.

“We were sometimes unlucky, sometimes there was no clinical edge. Congratulations for the opponents’ goalkeeper and his team because they defended very well.

“We conceded some counter-attacks as well because we tried until the end of the game to find the solution.”

Lambert’s team were holding comfortably on to the lead given them by Xherdan Shaqiri until Butland bundled the ball into his own net but the candidate for England’s World Cup goalkeeping spot more than made amends.

A dull first half came to life in the 44th minute when Shaqiri latched on to Joe Allen’s pass to open up the home defence and drill a low shot into the corner.

Shaqiri almost added a second 10 minutes after the break from 45 yards. He latched on to a misplaced clearance from Kasper Schmeichel and with the keeper out of his goal, the Swiss forward fired a few inches wide.

Lambert said: “I thought we should have been two or three goals up before they scored. We looked a good side going forward and defensively we were very strong.

“This is a difficult place to come and play.”

Stoke stood firm until Butland (right), distracted by Jamie Vardy’s near-post run, fumbled Marc Albrighton’s cross into the net in the 70th minute.

That signalled Leicester’s most productive spell of the game but a late bombardment failed to bring them a winner.

The visitors’ goal led a charmed life in the last 15 minutes but Butland stood in their way, saving superbly from Riyad Mahrez, who was making his first league start since being denied a January move to Manchester City.

Matty James almost nicked it when he headed a Mahrez corner against the post with Butland beaten.

The point was not enough to lift Stoke from 19th position in the table, but Lambert insisted: “Anyone coming to our games in the last few weeks will have seen that Stoke City are a very good side.”