HULL City manager Steve Bruce was relieved to see his side progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup last night after being pushed all the way at League One Leyton Orient.
City were staring down the barrel of a penalty shoot-out when Tom Cairney produced a moment of quality to slot home the winner and make it 2-1 with just two minutes of extra-time remaining.
It was a victory Bruce said the Tigers should have sealed in normal time, with striker Jay Simpson guilty of missing two good chances.
Question marks also hung over goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic's failure to keep out Leyton Orient's equaliser in the final 10 minutes of normal time.
However, Bruce was happy just to have his place in the fourth round, and a home tie with Championship strugglers Barnsley.
"It was a typical cup tie but we made it difficult for ourselves," Bruce said.
"We had two or three chances when we were 1-0 up and we should have put it to bed.
"Thankfully, we created enough to win it with the last kick of the game and that means we are still in the hat.
"Full credit to Leyton Orient, they gave us two great games."
German striker Nick Proschwitz, who had saved City's blushes in the first game with a stoppage time equaliser, set City on their way with a sensational first-half strike.
Turning and volleying past Jamie Jones from 20 yards, he gave the Tigers a lead which they held until the 84th minute, and drew praise from his boss.
"It was a terrific goal from Nick. That is one of the reasons we brought him here and hopefully it will give him a lift," Bruce said.
Although Proschwitz's strike looked to be enough for much of the night, the hosts forced the game into extra-time when Dean Cox's cross from the right deflected and looped over Jakupovic to level matters with only minutes remaining.
It was a bitter pill for City to swallow, but they picked themselves up to go again in extra-time, with Cairney proving the match-winner as he collected the ball on the edge of the area to guide a low drive into the bottom corner to avoid the lottery of a penalty shoot-out.• City's night was soured by the news Sone Aluko (Achilles) is set to miss four to six weeks.
