06 February 2004	Friday	14 Zilhaj 1424

LONDON, Feb 5: Kevin Keegan's luck finally turned at White Hart Lane on Wednesday as his Manchester City side pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in FA Cup history to beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 in a fourth-round replay.

Eight-time Cup winners Tottenham appeared to have booked a fifth-round trip to Manchester United by halftime, thanks to superb goals by Ledley King, Robbie Keane and Christian Ziege. But City, reduced to 10 men when midfielder Joey Barton was sent off for verbally abusing referee Rob Styles after the halftime whistle, roared back.

Sylvain Distan headed in Michael Tarnat's clever free kick three minutes after the break and, when Paul Bosvelt's shot deflected into the net off Spurs defender Anthony Gardner in the 61st, Spurs were suddenly rocking.

City goalkeeper Arni Arason pulled off some great saves, most notably to keep out a Ziege free kick, as Tottenham tried to kill the tie, but the home side were stunned when Shaun Wright-Phillips lobbed an 80th-minute equaliser.

With the pulsating game headed for extra time, there was one final twist when John Macken, who replaced injured Nicolas Anelka midway through the first half, rose to plant a last-minute header past Spurs keeper Kasey Keller.

Keegan, whose reign at City has been under threat after a run of 11 premier league games without a win has left them just three points above the relegation zone, watched his side torn to shreds in a nightmarish first half.

Central midfielder King curled in a delightful opener after two minutes and Keane, scorer of a penalty which earned Spurs a 1-1 draw in the first match, applied a cool finish from Stephen Carr's pass to make it 2-0 after 19 minutes.

City lost leading scorer Anelka to injury after 27 minutes and when Ziege, playing his second match after a long injury break, made it 3-0 just before the interval with a sizzling free kick the second period seemed a formality.

But, in a crazy reversal of fortune, City somehow booked a mouth-watering Manchester derby in the fifth round and avenge numerous Cup defeats by Tottenham, most notably a memorable 1981 FA Cup final replay which Spurs won 3-2 with a Ricky Villa solo goal.

In the other fourth-round replay, Fulham came through 2-1 after extra time against Everton to set up a repeat of the 1975 Cup final against West Ham United.

Japan striker Junichi Inamoto struck with a right-foot shot after 57 minutes but Everton drew level in the last minute through Francis Jeffers.

Frenchman Steed Malbranque restored Fulham's lead 12 minutes into the extra period and the Londoners held on to take their place in the fifth round which will be played on Feb 14-15.

Results of English FA Cup (Roman numerals denote division of non-premier league teams, ML denotes Minor League):

Fourth round replays:

Fulham 2 Everton 1 (after extra time)

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Manchester City 4

Fourth round:

Telford (ML) v Millwall (I) postponed (pitch waterlogged. New date: Tuesday, Feb 10). -Reuters