Throwback Thursday: Tottenham v Manchester City (February 4th, 2004)

Tottenham host Manchester City this weekend in the Premier League. This isn’t one of the most storied match-ups in English football, but this fixture does have some history to call its own. Among the more notable meetings between these two was an FA Cup tie in February, 2004— a game that turned out to be one of the most stirring comebacks in the history of the competition.

This week, we look back at Manchester City’s historic rally.

Though it’s a cliché, this truly was a game of two halves. Spurs got off to a rousing start when Ledley King struck home in the second minute. Robbie Keane would double the lead in the 19th minute, while Christian Ziege gave the home side a three goal advantage from a free kick. If that wasn’t enough, Manchester City were brought down to ten men right before halftime after Joey Barton earned a second yellow card for mouthing off at the referee. By all accounts, this should’ve been Tottenham’s day.

And yet.

Sylvain Distin gave City a glimmer of hope when he pulled one back in the opening minutes of the second half. In the 69th minute, Paul Bosvelt scored from a deflection to put the game back within reach for the visitors. In the 80th minute, Shaun Wright-Phillips netted the equalizer to stun the home crowd. And in the dying moments of regulation time, Jonathan Macken headed home the winner, sealing one of the most astonishing comebacks in the FA Cup’s distinguished history.

Will we see more fireworks this weekend? Find out when the game kicks off Saturday at 7:45am EST on NBC Sports Network.