City overcame the loss of an early goal, early injuries to three key players and a subdued first twenty minutes to get a replay from this 5th round FA Cup tie.
City lined up with Tuncay and Etherington on the wings and Fuller and Sidibe up front but were on the backfoot for a lot of the opening stages as their opponents kept the ball well. That said the hosts didn't really have any clear chances but the Etherington forced Toure to put the ball behind, the winger also picked out Tuncay at the back post and Tuncay's volley was blocked on its way to the net.
The Eastlands outfit then took the lead when Shaun Wright-Phillips raced onto a through ball. The winger clipped the ball over Thomas Sorenson but it seemed the ball had been knocked too far in front as the recovering Shawcross sprinted first to the ball. The defender was outdone by the bounce though and missed the ball before unwittingly keeping the ball in with his head allowing Wright-Phillips to tap into an open goal.
City then lost this seasons best player as Matthew Etherington was withdrawn with what looks a serious injury, twisting his knee on the area that surrounds the pitch. The wideman had to leave the ground on a stretcher and went for some scans to discover the extent of the injury,
The game remained scrappy but chances continued to arrive with the Potters taking more and more control as Lawrence wa denied by a brave block from Bridge, Fuller headed Lawrence' cross over the bar and Petrov lashes a free kick over at the other end.
As the half came to an end Lawrence picked up a knee injury and was forced off himself, with Delap coming on whilst Fuller was dangerous winning a couple of free kicks and corners in the closing stages.
City were forced into their third sub of the game after half time as Wilkinson was forced off with an ankle injury but the mood changed minutes later as a fantastic long throw was nodded in by Fuller, the Jamaican timing his run to perfection to level the scores.
After a period of midfield battle both sides went close as Sorenson pulled out a wonder save to deny Barry and Whelan ferocious effort was gathered at the seocnd opportunity by Given.
Four minutes of injury time saw both sides go for it and Shawcross cleared off the line from Santa Cruz and Tuncay blazed over at the other end after Whelan and Fuller combined allowing the Irishman to feed the Turkish star,