Tony Cottee's old poacher's touch threatened a Greek tragedy for Tottenham and their reserve goalkeeper Espen Baardsen until Colin Calderwood's second-half equaliser denied Leicester their third victory in a row.

Baardsen could not hold a powerfully-struck 25-yard drive by Leicester's new £500,000 Greek midfield Theo Zagorakis, who had come on as a 28th-minute substitute, and Cottee, whose goal shattered Manchester United's unbeaten home record two weeks ago, was on the spot again to slot in the loose ball from close range.

Spurs, after boosting their relegation fight with a shock win at Blackburn last week, seemed to be back in the mire again.

Disjointed and lacking ideas against a Leicester side that defended deep and tackled tigerishly in midfield, there seemed to be no way back from the 34th minute reverse until Scotland defender Calderwood snapped up a similar opening six minutes after the break.

After Leicester failed to deal with a free-kick Ruel Fox forced his way through and hit a low shot which Leicester's stand-in goalkeeper, Frenchman Pegguy Arphexad, could only parry away to the lurking Calderwood, who gleefully rolled it home.

But Cottee almost left Spurs gasping again in the closing minutes when he defied his 33 years with a sprint through the middle and was just about to shoot when Sol Campbell crashed into the tackle.

Referee Steve Lodge turned away Leicester's appeals for a penalty and appeared to book Matthew Elliott for dissent.

And Spurs, despite the disappointment of failing to gain back-to-back wins for the first time under manager Christian Gross, were left satisfied enough with a point they just about deserved.

True enough, Arphexad, on duty while first choice Kasey Keller was away with the United States, made a string of impressive stops from Chris Armstrong, Ramon Vega and Nicola Berti when Spurs tried to press home the advantage after the equaliser.

But Baardsen prevented the Londoners from slipping behind as early as the seventh minute when spectacularly denying Emile Heskey, who must have been certain he had scored his first goal in 14 matches when turning on Robbie Savage's pass to shoot from only eight yards out.

Somehow Baardsen launched himself in the air to tip over and it was just a shame that his error gave Leicester the lead later on.

But Zagorakis, the former PAOK Salonika captain, made sure his impact on the match was a lasting one with a determined run from halfway to set up the Cottee goal.

In the second half when both sides took it in turns to hold supremacy the match could have gone either way, but a point apiece was fair enough at the finish.

Tottenham: Baardsen, Calderwood (Brady 67), Fox, Nielsen, Armstrong, Carr, Ginola, Campbell, Vega, Wilson (Edinburgh 46), Berti.

Subs Not Used: Grodas, Mabbutt, Domingues.

Goals: Calderwood 51.

Leicester: Arphexad, Savage, Guppy, Prior, Elliott, Kaamark, Izzet, Lennon, Parker (Zagorakis 28), Cottee, Heskey.

Subs Not Used: Andrews, Fenton, Campbell, Wilson.

Booked: Izzet, Savage.

Goals: Cottee 34.

Att: 28,355

Ref: S J Lodge (Barnsley).