Foden's 77th-minute score eased the pressure on second-placed Northampton
A late Ben Foden try ensured Northampton kept their Premiership title hopes on track with a tense win over relegation-threatened Leeds.
The England international touched down in the 77th minute to add to three penalty kicks from Stephen Myler.
Leeds secured a vital bonus point following a Juan Gomez try in the 27th minute, converted by Ceiron Thomas.
Despite their dominance, Saints failed to convert possession into points until three minutes from time.
While Leicester extended their lead to three points at the top of the Premiership, Northampton still have a game in hand over their title-chasing rivals.
Myler opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Kearnan Myall was sin-binned for punching, but he missed a relatively straightforward drop-goal opportunity and a penalty kick minutes later.
Despite their numerical advantage, the visitors failed to pierce Leeds' obdurate defensive line.
And the home side were soon in front when Gomez was driven over for the try from close range to ensure the hosts took a 7-3 lead into the half-time interval.
Myler reduced the arrears to one point three minutes into the second half as Northampton pushed for a game-changing score.
Leeds' defence struggled to cope with a string of Saints attacks and, inevitably, conceded a penalty 14 minutes from time when fly-half Myler slotted over his third three-pointer.
And they converted their superiority in possession into points when full-back Foden gathered Bruce Reihana's grubber kick to score in the corner.
But Leeds grabbed a deserved point when Myler failed to add the subsequent conversion, stretching their advantage to three points over bottom-side Worcester.
Leeds director Andy Key: "We deserved a point, you could say we lost three as for stages of the game we deserved to win.
"We didn't take our opportunities in the first half and those will come back to haunt the players.
"We are still confident that we will remain in the Premiership."
Northampton director Jim Mallinder on try-scorer Ben Foden: "Ben is a class player, he is very dangerous and it was a class pick-up to finish.
"He made a couple of quality runs in the first half but some very good last-ditch tackling prevented him from getting fully away.
"It was not a good performance. We were not at our best but we've come away and got the job done. We tried to force too much ball. We should have kept playing, one more ruck, one more phase, and looked after the ball more."
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