Manchester City must face an FA Cup replay against Leicester after a sloppy performance at the Walkers Stadium.
Sven-Goran Eriksson's Foxes were ahead after just 45 seconds when Sol Bamba finished from close range.
City hit back, with a fine goal from James Milner on 23 minutes and a smart back flick from Carlos Tevez just before half time.
However, the Blues were poor after the break and Championship side Leicester equalised after an uncharacteristic mistake from Joe Hart.
He failed to gather a cross from Paul Gallagher and then his half-hearted effort to gather the loose ball allowed Andy King to score.
If City win the replay they will face a trip to Notts County in the fourth round.
Tribute
The most fitting moment on a day of poignant tribute to Neil Young did not come from the red and black scarves of the City fans, nor the “Poznan” moment on 24 minutes.
It came from the left foot of Milner, just a minute before the appointed time City fans had set aside to pay their own heart-felt respects to the gravely ill Sixties hero.
It was an equaliser beautifully timed, in more ways than one, and it was just a shame that City could not build on it and book a place in the next round.
In the 24th minute of the 1969 FA Cup final, with a confident swish of his sweet left foot, “Nelly” scored the goal which last won the famous old trophy for the Blues.
Milner's goal was as well-struck, though not as significant, as that famous goal, and came as City fans were readying themselves for their own acknowledgement.
News came through that Neil, on the eve of the day set aside by City fans to honour him before he succumbs to cancer, had been admitted to hospital.
His family were trying to make arrangements for him to see the game, with most of the 4,761 travelling fans wearing special scarves to reflect the kit which City wore on that great day in May, nearly 42 years ago.
The fans were still unfurling a banner which read “Only One Neil Young” when Milner delivered his own tribute, a neat shimmy and stunning left-footed strike of which Neil would have been proud.
It is sometimes hard to believe in the footballing gods, but uncanny moments like that will make even the most cynical Blue start to wonder whether it is a case of “name on the Cup”.
It was a bitter sweet day, especially for those Blues close the Neil's family who had learned of the down-turn in his condition.
And it overshadowed all the humdrum sub-plots of manager Roberto Mancini taking on his former master Eriksson, who was staging his own reunion with City.
Before the game, we had the unusual sound of the 4,000 City fans chanting the names of both managers, in appreciation of Sven-Goran Eriksson's brief but eventful and refreshing reign, and Mancini's current upwardly-mobile tenure.
Mancini tried to ensure there would be no repeat of the disappointment – and no little anger – felt by some City fans at the Carling Cup capitulation to West Brom.
He left Yaya Toure, Gareth Barry and Vincent Kompany, three players who had borne the rigours of the holiday period more than most, at home.
With Mario Balotelli and David Silva still recovering from knee problems, that would be a list of absentees to tax most teams.
But he still found places for Carlos Tevez, and a back four of internationals, a team which looked strong enough to deal with a Championship side, albeit one on the rise under the influence of Eriksson.
That theory looked a bit sick after just 45 seconds when a clearly fired-up Leicester ripped into the Blues from the kick-off.
A short corner routine caught the Blues napping and when Gallagher arced in a dangerous cross, there were some flat-footed City defenders as Bamba nipped in unmarked for a simple finish.
But City slowly took a grip on the game and, just as fans were preparing for their 24th-minute tribute, Milner struck.
He combined with the irrepressible Tevez on the right, carved inside, side-stepped Bamba and guided his shot past Chris Weale with aplomb.
The celebrations of the goal segued neatly into the backs-turned “Poznan” moment, adding some joy to the poignancy.
From then on, there appeared to be only one winner, even though Hart had to be sharp to deny Bamba a second, and Shaun Wright-Phillips took a blow in the face from ex-teammate Darius Vassell as he stopped another goalbound header from the big defender.
City chance
Adam Johnson might have edged the Blues ahead when he got on the end of a Jerome Boateng cross as City started to flow in attack, but he had to stretch a smidgeon too far and cvouldn't direct the ball goalwards.
But Milner, scorer of the equaliser, promptly laid on the second just before half time.
He smashed in a low cross and Tevez was the most alert, nipping in at the near post to knock in his 13th of the season.
Wright-Phillips was forced off at half time, Nigel de Jong shoring up midfield as substitute.
And it soon became clear that the Blues had not learned from their shambolic defence at set-pieces as they were frequently threatened.
Leicester refused to lie down, and were gifted an equaliser by a sloppy moment from Hart on 64 minutes.
Gallagher's whipped cross from the left was decent, but the keeper had it covered until he inexplicably let it bounce off his hands and straight to skipper Andy King, who had to just knock it past the stunned keeper for an easy goal.
What had looked like a cruise suddenly became an Arsenal-style battle for survival, and goal hero Milner became goal-line hero as Samba, for the umpteenth time, was allowed to head unchallenged.
Even so, City should have won it as Tevez led a counter, and neatly swivelled to tee up de Jong. He will never get a better chance to score a much-sought-after goal, but his shot brought a fine save from Weale.
The keeper was at it again in added time, denying Tevez from close range as City pressed for a winner.
What is your verdict on the action? Have your say.
Comments
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decent line up...although,JO,SHOULD NOT PLAY AS HE IS USELESS
CTID
thats IF they make it to the next round!
mistake 1...jo...mistake 2...viera....omg..whats going on.
CTID
Can u believe how slow Vieira is?
Just watched online. Jo is one of the worst players i have ever seen. Just awful. At least we didn't get beat.
Load of junk !! What gets me are the commentaters who say City have fielded a strong side...give me break !! Jo & Vieira...please both do one !! Phillips & Johnson complain about their respective situations and then go hiding when given a chance.
If i see Jo in a City shirt again , I would sack Mancini for insulting football, One of the most useless footballers I have ever seen, like having 10 men from the beginning,. second half was a shambles, missing sitters, and getting hammered in the air in defence. Couldn't believe it. This was agony to watch, giving the ball away easily, and not sure what Joe Hart was thinking about when he let the equaliser in.Toure had a shocker, and they missed Kompany. Overall well played leicester, and to think Jo cost more than their whole team, what a joke.
Manu expert: Yes, we were poor today BUT unlike your team we don`t have the referee playing for us.
Jo is usless. We played like a Sunday Team after a few pints.
The two full backs are also struggling too.
Get a grip of them Roberto.
Just before I make a point on the Blues, I thought the scousers were robbed by a penalty that was clearly NOT !!
SCUMMERS AND REFS YET AGAIN ...
As for the blues, well the squad should have buried Leicester ...JO IS AN EMBARRASMENT TO FOOTBALL.
Jo should never wear the shirt again... Cocky Joe Hart yet again ...simple basic catch!!
Time for Shay ...let Joe realise what mistakes cost !!
Boateng has not brought anything to the party since he signed ...Set Pieces needs sorting asap...Another extra game we dont need !!
The pitch was a bit of a joke to be fair ..good to see Svenny though........
CITY FOR LIFE -
City started with 10 players because you cannot count Jo. He is a joke. Viera is too old for this kind of scrappy fight, and Boateng ... is it just me, or isn't it obvious that he's one of the weakest links in our defence ?
City were so bad today that Milner, who had an average game, looked good. And when Milner looks good in your side, then you must have problems. So, no change since the negativitity of the Arsenal game. Mancini out !
What a poor effort for the fans. This team is lazy and overpaid. Why is it that I cannot watch a Manchester City game without questioning whether they are going to show up and if so at what point in the game they will show up to play.
Credit to Leicester. Another game we did not need but we have to face up to it. Marking at set pieces was awful today. Still not out of it.
Its time for Mancini to address the centre of defence. Its obvious to anyone who understands defending that Toure is not good enough, he had his one good game all season v Arsenal and then reverts back to his mistakes. Look at the first goal, he misses the header by miles, ten minutes later he misses again. Zonal marking which we play means u mark an area and the closest player in that area u pick up, Toure cannot do that and if you watch him he always is a poor header particulalrly from the wings, he is too short and doesnt jump properly, he was also giving balls away. The bottom line is he cannot stand on his own ability he is a luxury defender he backs up a great player like Kompany.
Come on Mancini wake up and see this mans inabilities and buy a big strong tall centre half to back Vincent!
Jo useless as usual and Boateng almost the same.SWP should go as well,he is clearly past it.We have a good draw, should take advantage of it.CTID.
How abysmal was that performance? The very few times the ball was passed around on the ground we managed to get an attack going. I don't think I have seen a striker with such a poor first touch as Jo and when he does have the ball he looks so uncomfortable. It is hard to fathom why Vieira is even in the squad. I can only think that he was marked out of the game due to his slowness because the number of times he was involved in the action was insignificant. At least Milner gave an all-action display which was one of the few positives as AJ was pretty much anonymous.
You were lucky to get out of there still in the cup! You have been given another chance lads, bit more effort next time!
No resting players next time - everyone knows Lescott/Toure together are pants as today showed. As for Jo, well words fail me!!!!
What do you get when you cross a team worth £200m+ and paid in excess of a £100,000,000 a year with a mediocre side managed by a failed football manager....offside's, inept goalkeeping, mediocre performances, losing mentality! No words other than disappointing..... we had 8 guys on the pitch and four absolute shockers (Jo, Kolarov, Viera).
Mancini was embarrassingly negative! What a complete mess by pretty much our strongest side. Another wasted Sunday.
all the good things i had to say about Jo have just been oblitorated - absolutly dire. The lad tries and has a few nice touches but then he goes on a run of giving the ball away and miss controling it all over the shop.........i applaud his recent improvement but he simply isnt quite up to standard.........
Milner was fantastic today and im glad to see him finaly get on the score sheet. Annoying we have to have another fixture but fair play to leicester they deserved the draw definatly - it was a good contest.......
This game highlighted two things for me.......
1) Kompany is extremely important
2) Zaba is forst choice RB........Boateng and Micah have talent but they arent as composed in posession as Zaba or as positionaly sound.............both Centre Backs in my opinion although they can certainly do a job at RB.............
another poor performance from JO, why does he continue to get a game! too many people played poor today. Kolrov gets skinned by anyone who has a bit of pace, how did we allow them to get so many crosses in? i felt we were lucky to get a draw so have no gripes about another game in 10 days. i hope that Mancini give the players an ear bashing!!
Please, no more Jo.... how bad does he have to be to get dropped?? Can't tackle, can't pass, lightwieght, Can't header, no goals, what's going on??
Sloppy is the right word. Started sloppily and should have seen it through after fighting back to lead 2-1. Gifted them an equaliser and a draw was probably a fair result in the end. Suprised how poor we were at defending corners in the air. We looked vulnerable at every corner.
what a shocking decision known only to Mancini to pick Jo ....probably the worse ever player to pull on a City shirt.....utterly,totally useless....was useless against Arsenal and totally useless today.It is impossible to fathom out what Mancini sees in him ....we could nt give this guy away as a free transfer...!!!
When playing our second team the depth is not as good as it looks on paper. We missed Kompany and Richards pace at the back,unsure of Kolarov at this time, although its early days his pace looks suspect and is getting caught out of position. Jo is out of his depth 18million and Viera is quicker, Adeyabour must have really upset the applecart, letting Bellamy go is proving a big mistake. SWP is obviously fed up and needs to move on.Time to move a few out.
I think the whole team let Neil Young down today and in truth they were shambolic.
What concerned me was the ammount of times on set pieces our defenders gave them free headers and we looked very vunerable.All in all it was a thoroughly disappointing performance and a lot of work has now got to be carried out on the training pitch.
I believe Neil watched the game and on behalf of all the City fans I would like to apologise to him for our teams abysmal display...