City stage one of Cup's greatest comebacks

Tottenham 3 Manchester City 4

Manchester City produced one of the greatest comebacks in FA Cup history as they came from three goals and a man down at half-time to win 4-3.

Ledley King, Robbie Keane and Christian Ziege appeared to have booked Spurs a fifth round tie at Manchester United with goals inside the first 43 minutes, especially as Joey Barton was dismissed after the half-time whistle for dissent.

But City gave a stunning second-half performance and won this replay with goals from Sylvain Distin, Paul Bosvelt, Shaun Wright-Phillips and a stoppage time header from Jon Macken.

The quartet could have saved manager Kevin Keegan his job and set up an exciting Manchester derby in the fifth round of the competition.

It was a dream start for Spurs as they took the lead in only the second minute thanks to a superb finish from King.

There seemed little danger for the visitors as defensive midfielder King had the ball on the right edge of the City box.

However, King stunned everyone as he turned inside and curled a peach of a left-foot drive inside the far top corner.

King does not score often – it was only his fourth for the club and his last goal was in September 2001 – but he does hold the record for the fastest goal ever scored in the Premiership, at just 10 seconds against Bradford in December 2000.

Even new signing Jermain Defoe must have been impressed with the finish, having been paraded on the pitch before kick-off.

Tottenham’s fortunes took a turn for the worse, however, as after eight minutes Helder Postiga limped out of the action and was replaced by Gus Poyet.

Keane showed his class on 19 minutes when he ran on to Stephen Carr’s chip over the defence, controlled superbly and made no mistake as he slid the ball past Arni Arason to make it five goals in his last six games.

It got worse for City as Nicolas Anelka appeared to suffer a groin strain and was forced out of the action after 27 minutes, being replaced by Jon Macken.

Spurs appeared to have sealed the tie four minutes before the break with another spectacular goal.

They won a free-kick in a central position just a few yards outside the penalty area when Barton fouled Michael Brown, for which he was booked. Ziege planted the ball over the wall and into the top right corner.

As if that was not bad enough for Keegan, Barton – booked earlier for a foul on Michael Brown – said something to referee Rob Styles as the half-time whistle sounded and the official produced a second yellow card, followed by the red to leave City with 10 men for the second half.

City should have been dead and buried but they scored with the simplest of set pieces just two minutes into the second half to leave Spurs feeling suitably embarrassed.

After winning a free-kick 30 yards from goal, Michael Tarnat shaped as if to drive in a shot.

However, he instead chipped the ball into the left half of the area and Distin ghosted in unmarked to plant a header into the far corner – his second goal of the season.

City continued their remarkable transformation as they pulled back a second goal after 62 minutes when Bosvelt’s shot took a wicked deflection off Anthony Gardner before creeping past Keller.

And the game entered the realm of legend as the City revival continued with Wright-Phillips grabbing an equaliser after 79 minutes.

He raced down the right on to Fowler’s pass and scooped the ball over the dive of Keller and into the far corner, to rightfully send the City fans wild with delight and leave the home crowd stunned.

The replay looked to be heading into extra-time but City were not finished yet, and in stoppage time the Spurs defence went missing.

Tarnat crossed from the right and Macken steered a header inside the near post to complete a sensational comeback.