Monday, February 4, 2013

4 February 2004 - City Shines In London

On 4 February 2004, despite being a man down, Manchester City came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat Spurs 3-4 in a fourth round FA Cup replay.

The teams had played to a 1-1 draw in Manchester over a week earlier to set up the replay at White Hart Lane. There, Spurs eased to a 3-0 lead in the first half with goals from Ledley King (2'), Robbie Keane (19'), and Christian Ziege (43'). As if the score advantage wasn't enough, Manchester City dropped to ten men for the second half as midfielder Joey Barton, who had already been booked earlier in the match, received a second yellow card in the 45th minute for arguing with the referee.

But manager Kevin Keegan must have delivered an amazing speech at the break, as City roared back to life in the second half. Sylvain Distin started the comeback, heading the ball past Spurs keeper Kasey Keller in the 48th-minute. A few minutes later, City goalkeeper Arni Arason scrambled to save what look liked a certain Tottenham goal to keep the margin at 3-1.

In the 69th minute, Paul Bosvelt closed the gap to 3-2 with a deflected goal, then Shaun Wright-Phillips got the equalizer in the 80th minute.

The last goal came in the 90th minute, as striker Jonathan Macken gave City their first lead of the day, which they held to emerge as 3-4 victors.

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