Tottenham Hotspur

3-4

Manchester City

King 2
Keane 19
Ziege 43

 

Distin 48
Bosvelt 61
Wright-Phillips 80
Macken 90


FA Cup Fourth Round Replay
White Hart Lane
04 February 2004

No scriptwriter would dare pen such a drama. Manchester City, three goals and a man down at half-time, were on the ropes before they staged one of the most magnificent FA Cup comebacks in history to stun their hosts, Tottenham Hotspur.

The White Hart Lane crowd, so used to glory nights in this competition, were in buoyant mood after Spurs' new signing, Jermain Defoe, was introduced to his new adoring public prior to kick-off.

The vibrant buzz around the stadium turned to ecstatic cheers just two minutes into the game when centre-back Ledley King pulled off a smart turn in the penalty area to unleash a well-struck left-footed shot past City's debut-making goalkeeper Arni Arason.

Tottenham were in rampant mood and soon scored their second when Robbie Keane latched onto a wonderful floated pass from captain Stephen Carr.  The Republic of Ireland international controlled the ball with a deft first touch and stylishly clipped the ball past Arason.

Even at 2-0, there seemed to be no way back for Kevin Keegan's side. Devoid of any imagination, only Shaun Wright-Phillips and Paul Bosvelt looked to be in form and when Nicolas Anelka was withdrawn from proceedings just before the half-hour, Tottenham minds could be forgiven for thinking about a Fifth Round match against Manchester United.

Still they came forward - Keane again dancing his way past Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin before shooting straight at the keeper. The Spurs no.10 then played in Stephane Dalmat but he couldn't quite get to the ball ahead of Arason.

When, two minutes before the break Joey Barton brought down Michael Brown, a hush decended around White Hart Lane, almost as if they knew what was about to happen.

From a central position, up stepped Christian Ziege to curl home a brilliant free-kick, high into Arason's top left-hand corner. City's misery was compounded on the stroke of half-time when young midfielder Barton was sent off for something he said to the referee.

At that point, Keegan's side were staring into the abyss but the former England manager earned his spurs as he delivered a half-time team-talk that stunned his side into action; few matches have been more fitting of the phrase "a game of two halves" as the Citizens turned the game on its head, pulling off the seemingly impossible.

It all started when Distin scored an apparent consolation goal on 47 minutes. From 25 yards, Michael Tarnat looked set to unleash one of his thunderbolts but rather than testing Keller, he knocked a teasing chip towards the far post which was met by the head of Distin.

The way the French centre-back managed to ghost in should have been cause for alarm in the Tottenham ranks and with City building on the goal and looking to be by far the brighter side, Spurs should have tightened things up.

They had obviously failed to settle and the momentum had clearly swung towards the visitors from Manchester.  Wright-Phillips and Sinclair suddenly were a pair of twinkle-toed midfield tricksters and Dutch international Paul Bosvelt increasingly started to dictate play in the middle of the pitch.

Two minutes after the goal, City could have had another as Bosvelt back-heeled a pass into the path of John Macken. With Spurs' static defence allowing the former Preston forward all the time in the world, Macken could only hit a weak shot at Keller.

Robbie Fowler had a great chance to pull another goal back but, in a carbon copy of a missed first half chance, he couldn't connect with Tarnat's left-wing cross and the opportunity went begging.

Moments later though, City made it 3-2 when Bosvelt scored the only fortuitous goal of the evening.

Tarnat again delivered a good cross from wide which King failed to head clear. Bosvelt picked the ball up on the edge of the area and smacked a low drive towards goal. As the ball bounced up, Anthony Gardner stuck out a leg and deflected the ball past a stranded Kasey Keller - suddenly it was game on.

Wright-Phillips, getting better and better with every passing moment, was cutting through the Spurs midfield with consumate ease and his link play was justly rewarded when he grabbed City's equaliser with ten minutes left.

A shocked White Hart Lane fell silent when Fowler held the ball up before supplying the flying winger with a perfect through-pass. Wright-Phillips ran clear of substitute Johnnie Jackson, got to the ball ahead of Keller and struck the perfect chip over the American 'keeper.

Stunned and disbelieving, Tottenham launched an all-out attack on the City goal. Twice Arason gave away corners needlessly but still Tottenham couldn't get past the increasingly solid City back four.

Tottenham's advances suited City's counter-attacking style and as the game went into injury time, they let Wright-Phillips wriggle free one time too many. He set off on a jinking run which eventually saw the ball worked out to Tarnat on the left.

Once again the German knocked in a dangerous-looking cross and once again the Tottenham defence couldn't deal with the ball.  John Macken, running in at the back post, stooped low and headed the ball back across the face of goal and into the bottom right corner of Keller's goal - the comeback was complete.

Team Details

Tottenham: Keller, Carr, Richards, Gardner, Ziege (Jackson, 60), Dalmat, King, Brown, Davies, Postiga (Poyet, 9), Keane.
Subs Not Used: Burch, Yeates, Kelly.

Manchester City: Arason, Jihai, Dunne, Distin, Tarnat, Wright-Phillips, Barton, Bosvelt (Sibierski, 80), Sinclair (McManaman, 80), Fowler, Anelka (Macken 27).
Subs Not Used: Stuhr-Ellegaard, Jordan.

Booked: Barton, Bosvelt, Jihai.
Sent Off: Barton

Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).
Attendance: 30,400. 

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