Conte delighted with Tottenham's 'never give up' attitude after dramatic win at Leicester

Bergwijn scores twice deep in stoppage time to earn Spurs a 3-2 win at King Power Stadium

Steven Bergwijn celebrates with Tottenham teammates after scoring the winning goal against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. Reuters

Steven Bergwijn scores the winning goal for Tottenham against Leicester. Reuters

Leicester City defender Caglar Soyuncu lies in the goal after Tottenham score their third goal. Reuters

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - January 19, 2022 Tottenham Hotspur's Steven Bergwijn celebrates scoring their second goal Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.

Steven Bergwijn celebrates scoring Tottenham's third goal against Leicester. AFP

Tottenham players celebrate with fans in the stands after Steven Bergwijn scores the late winning goal against Leicester. AFP

Harry Kane celebrates after the match following Tottenham's late win. Reuters

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte, right, and Spurs players and staff celebrate the victory. Reuters

Leicester City's James Maddison slides in to score his team's second goal against Tottenham. Getty Images

James Maddison celebrates scoring Leicester's second goal against Tottenham. Reuters

Harry Kane beats Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel but the ball hits the crossbar. AFP

Harry Kane scores Tottenham's first goal against Leicester. AFP

Patson Daka after scoring Leicester's first goal against Tottenham. Getty Images

Harry Kane skips a challenge from Leicester defender Jannik Vestergaard. AFP

Leicester City's Youri Tielemans attempts to tackle Tottenham Hotspur defender Japhet Tanganga. PA

Tottenham Hotspur's Lucas Moura wins a header in the Leicester box. Reuters

Antonio Conte said he was delighted with Tottenham's desire to "never give up" against Leicester City on Wednesday night after Steven Bergwijn scored twice deep into stoppage time to secure a dramatic 3-2 win at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester looked set to snatch victory against the run of play as Patson Daka and James Maddison struck either side of Harry Kane's first-half equaliser.

However, Bergwijn, who had not scored a Premier League goal this season, came off the bench to turn the game on its head in a dramatic finale, scoring in the fifth and seventh minutes of stoppage time.

Instead of suffering Conte's first league defeat since taking charge in November, victory lifts Spurs above north London rivals Arsenal into fifth and within a point of fourth-placed West Ham with three games in hand.

"I think we showed today that we don't want to give up. Never," the Spurs manager said. "The players know very well what our philosophy must be. We must fight to the end and try to also get a result."

The match had been rescheduled at Leicester's request after they were unable to field a side in December due to a combination of coronavirus cases and injuries.

Brendan Rodgers' men remain severely depleted with four players away at the Africa Cup of Nations on top of a long injury list, but were seconds away from a win that would have ignited their own hopes of European football next season.

"That was a great opportunity tonight, but you have to see that through," said Rodgers. "I don't think Tottenham won the game, we presented them the three points."

Tottenham were fresh after their derby clash against Arsenal had been called off on Sunday against their will.

Kane looked better for the rest, but the England captain will wonder how he did not register at least a hat-trick. His first effort was brilliantly cleared off the line by Luke Thomas as it arrowed towards the bottom corner. He then hit the crossbar with a header form a corner and Lucas Moura forced Kasper Schmeichel to full stretch.

But completely against the run of play, Leicester went in front when Daka, deputising for the injured Jamie Vardy, got the break of the ball inside the box and slotted beyond Lloris at his near post.

Kane finally got his 18th goal in 17 appearances against the club where he spent a short loan spell earlier in his career on 38 minutes as he raced onto Harry Winks' through ball, cut inside Caglar Soyuncu and rolled in off the inside of the post.

Seconds later, Kane should have scored again when he blasted well over with just Schmeichel to beat.

Leicester posed more of a threat on the counter-attack after the break and Maddison should have done better when he fired straight at Lloris.

The midfielder thought he had the final say when he exchanged a one-two with Harvey Barnes and got the aid of a huge deflection off Japhet Tanganga to wrong-foot Lloris 14 minutes from time.

But the defensive frailties that have dogged Leicester's season reappeared in stoppage time. Bergwijn pounced to fire home after Matt Doherty's effort was blocked by Soyuncu five minutes into stoppage time.

Straight from the kick-off, Youri Tielemans gave away possession cheaply and Kane played Bergwijn through once more to round Schmeichel and fire in off the post.