Mark Hughes: 'We were lacking spark and energy'

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has said that his side lacked "spark and energy" after they squandered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with 10-man Leicester City this afternoon.

The Foxes were a man short on the half-hour mark when frontman Jamie Vardy saw red for a lunge on Mame Biram Diouf, and the Potters quickly capitalised to take a 2-0 advantage into the break thanks to a Bojan Krkic penalty and a Joe Allen strike.

Claudio Ranieri's champions were not to be beaten, however, and fought back with second-half goals from Leonardo Ulloa and Daniel Amartey to salvage a point from the encounter at the Britannia.

"Leading 2-0 it was well deserved, we were good value for that lead and were in good shape. You have to get the job done and we didn't do that," Hughes told reporters after the game.

"They came at us and that is why they were champions last year. In the end we were lacking that spark and energy and they took advantage of that. You think it should be a straight-forward second half, but we made it difficult and allowed them to get back into the game.

"We are in decent shape, but this game should have been won. We have big games ahead of us but you have to test yourself against them at some stage of the season."

Stoke, who are now 11th in the Premier League table, next face a tough trip to Liverpool on December 27.