“The fourth official has indicated five minutes of added time”.

We only needed one. And without wishing to appear clever with the use of hindsight, there was something in the air that suggested that even with the Tigers trailing in injury time away from home – a situation that rarely offers much hope – we might just get something. Then, 130 yards from the Tiger Nation, the ball fell to Nick Barmby, he smartly directed it over Simonsen’s head and this crazy season took a swift lurch in the right direction.

Phil Brown made two changes from the side that struggled to a disappointing draw against Colchester last week, with the unfit Livermore replaced by Lee Peltier and Stuart Elliott making way for Stephen McPhee. City retained the manager’s preferred 4-3-3 formation, carding: Myhill; Ricketts, Delaney, Turner, Dawson; Peltier, Ashbee (c), Parlour; McPhee, Windass, Forster.

Tony Pulis made three alterations to the side that drew at Cardiff last week, drafting Hendrie, Sidibe and Griffin into the side. Prior to kick-off, Stoke lay in seventh places, just a couple of points behind sixth, meaning that a twelfth home victory for them and a twelfth away defeat for us would have propelled them into the play-offs.

The pressure on both sides was evident straight from the kick-off, although it appeared that the Tigers were handling it better as we made a bright opening to the game. The first real chance fell to City, when some tidy play by Forster created the room for a low cross which found Dean Windass in space, but his shot flew disappointingly over the crossbar.

This was probably the high point of the first half for City, as the game become more even and deteriorated in quality. Stoke’s play-off push has come as a consequence of organised, functional football and against a side fighting for survivial, perhaps a classic was never on the cards. However, one bright spot for the home side was Lee Hendrie, a lively influence in the midfield and the man whose cross nearly brought the first goal of the game twenty minutes in. He swung the ball over the Higginbotham, who powered a header towards goal and probably would not have expected a flying save from Boaz Myhill to foil him. However, foiled he was, and a terrific piece of goalkeeping to keep the scores level.

Lee Peltier had hobbled off shortly before this, and the disruption caused by Marney’s introduction appeared to unsettle City, who lost their way for a short time and Stoke were able to rain crossed into the area that were repelled with no little alarm. However, the home side appeared to lack a creative spark, meaning that stout defending was mostly sufficient to deny them.

The Tigers came again, forcing a couple of corners from which McPhee went close, while Ashbee sent a long-range volley bobbling harmlessly wide. However, little else of note occurred, and it seemed City were going to go in at half-time with satisfactory parity until a harsh blow in injury time. Perma-fop Liam Lawrence sent a shot towards Myhill’s goal that carried as much threat as you’d imagine the player himself would present in a boxing ring, but it took a nasty deflection that sent the spiralling high over Myhill and landed sickeningly in the corner of his goal.

The home fans celebrated this undeserved lead gleefully, while the Tiger Nation cursed our ill-fortune before rousing ourselves to applaud the team off at the break for a performance not lacking in character. News from Southampton of Leeds being level meant City were notionally in the bottom three – sobering stuff.

The Tigers looked a little unnerved in the second half, and Stoke had opportunities to extend their lead. Jon Parkin’s new best mate Ricardo Fuller sent a shot thudding against Myhill’s crossbar three minutes into the second period as City looked horribly like giving themselves no chance of taking anything from the game. However, Stoke continued to labour and gradually we settled back into the pattern of the game – not that its generally stolid nature necessarily made this a good thing.

Simonsen repelled a long-range blast by Parlour, and City had the ball in the net after an hour when Nicky Forster block the home keeper’s slovenly kick and rolled the ball into an open goal – but referee Andy D’Urso decided he’d handled in charging the ball down and disallowed it. Impossible to say for certain given that this occurred at the far end of the pitch to the City fans, but it didn’t appear to be a decision the Stoke players were appealing for and the decision looked harsh.

On we went, now looking slightly the better side. Barmby replaced the tiring McPhee, while Jon Parkin came on for Ray Parlour to a reception that was substantially kinder from the three home stands. And as City began to commit men forward with greater intent, we left ourselves open at the back and saw Fuller spring the offside trap, hare towards goal before squaring it to the unmarked Hendrie, who unbelievably sent the ball wide with no defender in sight and Myhill scrambling across his goal. A huge let-off, and one that usefully irked the home fans and several of his own team-mates.

Stoke went close again when Mamady Sidibe’s header from a Lawrence cross caused great anxiety, but City just managed to clear it. Sidibe was replaced shortly after by Pericard, which was something of a relief. D’Urso then infuriated the City players once more by waving away a strong appeal for handball in the penalty area. And then, possibly, a turning point in the match arrived – Southampton scored.

News of the White Shite trailing on the South Coast spread rapidly among the Tiger Nation, who were sufficiently encouraged by this splendid turn of events to spend the remaining minutes bellowing their support for the team. Did the players themselves realise the source of this sudden increase in volume? Maybe. Maybe not. But it appeared to lift them, and we pushed on one last time in search of an equaliser.

It duly arrived in the beginning of injury time, and was celebrated with joyful abandon in the away end. It didn’t go down too well among Stoke’s hairy-palmed contingent huddled together near the away end, and several of them were escorted from the ground by the local constabulary for their amusingly futile gesturing. But sod them – the remaining minutes were played out with no significant threat to goal, news filtered through that Leeds had already lost, and the team were cheered off at the conclusion to hearty applause.

It was certainly a deserved point. City played perfectly well against a side chasing promotion, created a few decent openings and conceded only to a fluke goal. The shape of the side remained largely solid, and we didn’t panic despite going behind right on half-time. While not a glittering display, it was just what we needed and the point gained could be crucial.

Leeds’ defeat in Hampshire means they remain third bottom, ahead of already-relegated Luton and nearly-relegated Southend, who lost at Plymouth. Wins for Barnsley, Leicester and QPR virtually confirm their successful escapes from relegation.

So after months of it being three-from-six, it’s just about one-from-two. Us or Leeds. They have Ipswich at home and Derby away – one eminently winnable, one difficult. We have Cardiff away and Plymouth at home – one difficult, one eminently winnable. We have a one-point advantage, and an almost insurmountable goal difference advantage over the White Shite.

At least we cannot now be relegated in Wales next week. With their tumble down the table they now have nothing to play for, are in dreadful form and will be without Michael Chopra. Leeds, however, have won their last four home matches and an addition to that run could see them going to Derby with their fate in their own hands if we falter in Cardiff. The finishing line is in sight now and only two runners are left to finish. Exhausted, bewildered, they stumble down the final straight. There’s still no way of knowing who’ll collapse first. (AD)