Emil Riis rescued a point for Bristol City as the Robins fought back brilliantly from 2-0 down against Leicester to draw 2-2 at Ashton Gate.

Jordan Ayew's coolly clipped penalty, after Stephy Mavididi was brought down by Scott Twine, gave Leicester an early lead before Bobby De Cordova-Reid's first-time finish against his former club seemingly had the Foxes cruising to victory against a listless home side at half-time.

But Mark Sykes beat Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk at his near post immediately after the break to spark a Robins revival after the first 45 minutes finished to the sounds of boos in the stands.

There was frustration when Sinclair Armstrong directed what appeared to be a goal-bound header from team-mate Rob Dickie onto the woodwork, but jubilation followed in the 83rd minute as Ross McCrorie found Riis to complete the turnaround with a deft nodded finish.

Victory would have taken Leicester above Bristol City in the table, but a share of the spoils means the Robins remain two points and three spots above the 13th-placed Foxes after 20 Championship games.

Both sides invited early pressure on themselves, with a poor attempted clearance from the Foxes teeing Riis up for a close-range shot that forced Stolarczyk into a sprawling save.

Radek Vitek's flapping attempt at gathering a deep cross from Mavididi at the other end eventually led to the former Juventus forward guiding a header onto the top of bar after having the ball invitingly returned to him at the back post.

And when Mavididi burst into a crowded penalty area following a 16th-minute corner, Twine's trip on the forward allowed Ayew to put the Foxes ahead from the spot.

Cameron Pring, who was making his first start of the season after returning from an ankle injury, went closest to a first-half reply for the hosts when he sent a header just over the bar.

De Cordova-Reid then went on to make it 2-0 after meeting a cut-back pass from Abdul Fatawu, although the Jamaica international chose not to celebrate the goal against the club with which he started his career.

Sykes halved Bristol City's deficit within a minute of the second half starting, slotting home after an initial low cross was cut out by Jannik Vestergaard at the front post.

Stolarczyk was called into action by Anis Mehmeti and Riis as the hosts flooded forward in search of an equaliser, but the biggest intervention of the second half came from one of Bristol City's own.

Dickie's glanced header looked as if it would sneak in at the far post for an equaliser, only for Armstrong to help the ball onto the bar.

It would have been a cruel way to miss out on a point, and Riis ensured it was largely forgotten with a header to level, before Stolarczyk made one last big save in stoppage time from Adam Randell to deny the Robins all three points.

Bristol City head coach Gerhard Struber told BBC Radio Bristol:

"I have mixed feelings today. I would say that we saw, in this game, two different [Bristol City] teams. In the first half it was a little bit sloppy and we needed, at half-time, to change and also a clear speech about what we had to do differently in the second half.

"It was clear, and I told the boys, that when we get that first goal they will maybe have doubtful moments.

"But the most important thing is that it was so much more in our behaviours, more of our typical style of football and this made us difficult for them.

"It was a completely different team in the second half. The belief from the boys to bounce back in the second half showed us one more time how big the character, how big the mentality is."

Leicester City manager Marti Cifuentes told BBC Radio Leicester:

"We come to every game with the intention to get the three points, so it's always disappointing not to get those, especially after a very good first half.

"I think we did so well, we understood really well that Bristol City are a team that likes to press really high, that likes man-to-man situations and we understood where the space was and how to exploit it.

"Then obviously when you are 2-0 up we spoke at half-time about the need to score the third one and to not drop, and to understand that they would push from the very beginning.

"Then it's very disappointing to concede a goal in less than one minute. So probably the impact of this goal was too much. We needed to control the second half and the scenario better because we were still in the lead, but it's obviously disappointing to get only one point from this."