Hamza the hero for Leicester as Choudhury's three goal-line clearances help put Foxes back in pole position... while it's heartache at the end for Saints

Leicester City can smell promotion after returning to the top of the Championship thanks to Hamza Choudhury's defensive heroics — but Enzo Maresca knows the job is far from finished.

Foxes boss Maresca admitted his side pulled off a 'lucky' win over West Brom, but his team now need two victories from their remaining three games to make sure of a return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

There is a scenario where they could go up on Tuesday night if they beat Southampton at the King Power Stadium, but that depends on Leeds losing at Middlesbrough on Monday.

On the south coast, Russell Martin's Midas touch against Cardiff City deserted the Southampton manager just when he needed it most.

After five successive victories over the Bluebirds, Martin saw a vital point dramatically snatched away from him by Cian Ashford.

The 19-year-old scored with a deflected long-range shot in the 96th minute, seriously undermining Saints' automatic promotion bid. They are five points adrift of the top two with three games left.

'It's unacceptable to lose a game with the amount of chances we had,' Martin said.

'We should have been out of sight. We played some amazing football, but it won't matter one bit because we lost. We have to react properly now.'

Ironically, Leicester produced a less than impressive display in a game Albion dominated. They owed much to central midfielder Choudhury who, incredibly, made three goalline clearances to frustrate Carlos Corberan's side, who wasted a string of openings.

They were punished when Wilfred Ndidi scored from close range after 22 minutes after goalkeeper Alex Palmer could only parry Jamie Vardy's header.

Vardy then produced a rare penalty miss after he had been pushed over by Conor Townsend.

It was his first mishap from the spot this season, having been four from four previously, as his shot rattled the post.

Albion then hit the woodwork themselves when Kyle Bartley headed against the bar after Choudhury, who had earlier cleared off the line from Mikey Johnston, made two goal-line clearances in the space of just a few seconds.

He denied Yann M'Vila and Grady Diangana before Vardy atoned for his earlier penalty miss. Choudhury found Abdul Fatawu on the right and his cross was headed home by the Foxes skipper for his 15th league goal of the season.

Albion pulled one back with 14 minutes left as captain Jed Wallace finished off a superb through ball from Cedric Kipre.

And neither manager could believe man-of-the-match Choudhury's inspired performance.

Maresca said: 'He played as a goalkeeper at times. In terms of recognising good human beings, it's something most of the time I do in the right way — and Hamza is probably the only guy whose contract we renewed this season.

'We made him one of the captains. With us, on the pitch and off the pitch, he has always been very good. I've never seen three goal-line clearances from one player.

'I said to Carlos that we have been lucky. And he said: 'You have been lucky here, but in the last two games, you have been completely unlucky'. We still need two wins, now we have to look at the next game. Every time you win, you see yourself closer and you celebrate.

'But it's not over, we have to finish the job.'

Two defeats in a row mean fifth-placed Albion's play-off spot is not certain, but Corberan says he welcomes the pressure.

The Spaniard said: 'I love it, it's excellent, we are still well placed and we will fight until the last minute of the final game to make sure we're in the play-offs, because that can get us promoted.

'This was not a fair result, we created more chances than the best team in the division. It only counts if the ball hits the back of the net and we seemed to do everything but.'