Tottenham 3 Manchester City 4
Manchester City staged an astonishing fightback to beat Tottenham in a thrill-a-minute FA Cup fourth round replay, to set up a mouth-watering Manchester derby in round five.
Trailing to three superb Spurs goals at the break - and down to 10 men after Joey Barton talked his way to a red card as the teams left the field at half time - City belied their numerical disadvantage as they stormed to victory in the second half.
Sylvain Distin began the fightback, heading in from Michael Tarnat's cleverly disguised free-kick in the 48th minute.
Paul Bosvelt's drive from the edge of the area on the hourmark, which deflected off Anthony Gardner to leave Kasey Keller flat-footed, then gave Kevin Keegan's side the sort of optimism that is usually reserved for the City manager himself.
Shaun Wright-Phillips - City's only consistent performer throughout the match - then raced onto Robbie Fowler's precise pass to lift a delicate shot over Keller and into the far corner.
Then, with a minute-and-a-half of the allotted two minutes of injury time up, Jon Macken placed a header into Keller's right-hand corner from Tarnat's cross to complete the most incredible fightback since Tranmere's victory over Southampton three years ago in similar circumstances.
The night had all begun so well for Spurs, who were cruising towards a trip to Old Trafford by the interval.
On two minutes, Richard Dunne's attempted clearance fell to Ledley King, who still had much to do as he strode into the area.
The defender-cum-midfielder cut inside Tarnat and fired a rising left-foot drive beyond debutant keeper Arni Arason into the top corner.
City responded well, with Fowler twice going close without testing Keller, before Robbie Keane scored the goal of the night, trapping Stephen Carr's long through ball in an instant before slipping the ball past Arason with a deft clip of the right boot.
Two down, and over-run in midfield by the combination of King and Michael Brown, the visitors then lost top scorer Nicolas Anelka, who left the field on 29 minutes after picking up a groin injury.
Keegan's men then found themselves three goals down two minutes before the break - Christian Ziege curling in a delightful free-kick from 25 yards.
Barton, already cautioned for an over-the-ball foul on Brown, then made straight for referee Rob Styles to dispute the decision on the half-time whistle.
The fiery Liverpudlian was shown a second yellow card for dissent, and surely it was game over.
Even after Distin's intervention, City were fortunate to stay in the game as Arason, deputising for the cup-tied David James, pulled off two outstanding saves to keep his side in it.
First the Icelandic international tipped Ziege's free-kick onto the crossbar, before scrambling across his line to stop Gus Poyet's follow-up header.
Then he denied Poyet again with an outrageous save on the goal-line, with the Uruguayan ready to celebrate another goal in his FA Cup collection.
Yet despite those scares City dominated much of the second period, and it was the Spurs players and supporters who looked edgy going into the final minutes.
Macken's header clinched it, but after a poor first half, every City player contributed to a stunning victory - only their second in 19 matches.
Trailing to three superb Spurs goals at the break - and down to 10 men after Joey Barton talked his way to a red card as the teams left the field at half time - City belied their numerical disadvantage as they stormed to victory in the second half.
Sylvain Distin began the fightback, heading in from Michael Tarnat's cleverly disguised free-kick in the 48th minute.
Paul Bosvelt's drive from the edge of the area on the hourmark, which deflected off Anthony Gardner to leave Kasey Keller flat-footed, then gave Kevin Keegan's side the sort of optimism that is usually reserved for the City manager himself.
Shaun Wright-Phillips - City's only consistent performer throughout the match - then raced onto Robbie Fowler's precise pass to lift a delicate shot over Keller and into the far corner.
Then, with a minute-and-a-half of the allotted two minutes of injury time up, Jon Macken placed a header into Keller's right-hand corner from Tarnat's cross to complete the most incredible fightback since Tranmere's victory over Southampton three years ago in similar circumstances.
The night had all begun so well for Spurs, who were cruising towards a trip to Old Trafford by the interval.
On two minutes, Richard Dunne's attempted clearance fell to Ledley King, who still had much to do as he strode into the area.
The defender-cum-midfielder cut inside Tarnat and fired a rising left-foot drive beyond debutant keeper Arni Arason into the top corner.
City responded well, with Fowler twice going close without testing Keller, before Robbie Keane scored the goal of the night, trapping Stephen Carr's long through ball in an instant before slipping the ball past Arason with a deft clip of the right boot.
Two down, and over-run in midfield by the combination of King and Michael Brown, the visitors then lost top scorer Nicolas Anelka, who left the field on 29 minutes after picking up a groin injury.
Keegan's men then found themselves three goals down two minutes before the break - Christian Ziege curling in a delightful free-kick from 25 yards.
Barton, already cautioned for an over-the-ball foul on Brown, then made straight for referee Rob Styles to dispute the decision on the half-time whistle.
The fiery Liverpudlian was shown a second yellow card for dissent, and surely it was game over.
Even after Distin's intervention, City were fortunate to stay in the game as Arason, deputising for the cup-tied David James, pulled off two outstanding saves to keep his side in it.
First the Icelandic international tipped Ziege's free-kick onto the crossbar, before scrambling across his line to stop Gus Poyet's follow-up header.
Then he denied Poyet again with an outrageous save on the goal-line, with the Uruguayan ready to celebrate another goal in his FA Cup collection.
Yet despite those scares City dominated much of the second period, and it was the Spurs players and supporters who looked edgy going into the final minutes.
Macken's header clinched it, but after a poor first half, every City player contributed to a stunning victory - only their second in 19 matches.
