Manchester City 1 - 2 Ipswich Town (AET)

	Ipswich celebrate the winning goal (GaryMPrior/Allsport)

Manager Royle's players gave blood, they gave sweat, but in the end there were only tears for the chances they allowed to slip through their fingers before Ipswich claimed the extra-time winner that gave them a Semi-final clash with Birmingham next month.

Right up to the last touch, a header from Paulo Wanchope, City still had a chance of reaching the last four of a cup competition for the first time since they got to Wembley and the 1981 FA Cup final after, by supreme irony, beating Ipswich when an extra half-hour was also required.

But the bad luck that for so long always seems to debilitate the club's progress hung as heavy as the rain clouds.

Wanchope, having already hit a post in the 100th minute, beat Richard Wright to Mark Kennedy's towering cross but somehow substitute Titus Bramble managed to hack the ball off his line.

Four minutes earlier Wanchope had also believed he had given his side the salvation of a penalty shoot- out as he rose to meet a cross from Gerard Wiekens amidst a ruck of players.

As the ball dropped, the Costa Rican prodded the ball over the line only to discover that referee Graham Poll had disallowed his effort for hand ball.

The Tring official was derided by the disbelieving City support over that incident - Wanchope in television replays did not appear to make any contact his hand or arm.

But Poll had become a target for abuse long before that when he did not give a free kick, never mind a penalty kick after Hermann Hreidarsson wounded Kevin Horlock with an attempted clearance.

The defender's left boot connected with the midfielder's head, inflicting a wound that needed the binding of a white bandage - but Poll did not deem that effort dangerous play.

Shaun Goater also hit woodwork. Three minutes after putting his side ahead, he moved forward to thump an upright as City over-powered the team they accompanied into the Premiership.

Goater's goal, in the 10th minute, suggested that in the game which was abandoned a week earlier after a Manchester monsoon, was going swimmingly for City, for he had already missed the target with a header.

The Bermudan made the most of a misdirected clearance from John McGreal, forcing himself past Mark Venus then shooting hard, the ball taking a slight deflection before flying past Wright.

But while Goater's strike provided a huge psychological lift for City he also missed two chances, one when he was through on the goalkeeper.

Shaun Wright-Phillips also spurned chances to put the game beyond Ipswich.

And after Ipswich manager George Burley switched his side around from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2, they took over possession in the second half and by the time Matt Holland collected the equaliser in the 60th minute it had already become obvious that City were regretting their earlier failure to capitalise on their dominance.

The Ipswich captain's goal, however, was a further indication of the kind of carelessness that once helped propel City into 12th position in Division Two.

They plumbed those depths exactly two years ago and Nicky Weaver's blunder recalled those days.

Venus delivered a header which looped towards the goalkeeper yet he allowed the ball to slip from his hands.

What should have been an easy stop became a calamity as Holland eagerly pounced on the schoolboy error.

Weaver made up for his mistake by sticking a foot out to prevent Fabian Wilnis putting Ipswich ahead seven minutes after the second re-start of what had become a throwback to the old, glory days of cup football.

Ipswich survived as if by magic, Wanchope shuffling forward to hit the right-hand post, Goater, again, missing when he, too, powered through the mud on a solo run.

Come the 109th minute what had all but become the inevitable surely arrived as Venus was gifted the winner.

'A pinball goal.' was how City boss Royle described the winner that sent Ipswich into their first semi-final since they faced Norwich 15 years ago in the Milk Cup version of the competition.

As City defenders attempted to scoop the ball away, the ball ricocheted across the front of the penalty area before the defender flicked it forward, suddenly aware that he was free and clear.

Weaver stood tall in the hope that his rival might lose his nerve but there was to be no reprieve as the Ipswich man smashed the ball low past him.

Burley, whose side are back in Manchester on Saturday when they visit Old Trafford, continue to build on the promotion they gained through the play-offs.

Burley stressed: 'Things are going brilliantly for us, better than we could have hoped. But we showed that quite apart from ability we also have tremendous strength of character.

'Now we can look forward to facing United as the team with the best away record in the Premier-ship. We have nothing to fear.'

MANCHESTER CITY (4-4-2): Weaver; Haaland, Tiatto (Bishop, 105), Morrison (Kennedy 79), Prior; Wright-Phillips, Whitley, Wiekens, Horlock (Granville, 101); Wanchope, Goater. Booked: Whitley.

IPSWICH TOWN (3-5-2): R Wright; Hreidarsson (J Wright 46), Venus, McGreal; Croft, Magilton, Holland, Clapham, Wilnis; Scowcroft (Bramble, 117), Johnson (Reuser, 91).

Man of the Match: Wanchope