COVENTRY City suffered a dramatic late collapse to exit the Carabao Cup at the third round stage following a 2-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Sky Blues looked set to cause a major upset when Brandon Thomas-Asante deservedly fired City ahead on 63 minutes from Norman Bassette’s cross.
However, Djed Spence drew Spurs level on 88 minutes before fellow substitute Brennan Johnson won the game for the visitors two minutes into injury time at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Both teams rang the changes from their last league outings with the Sky Blues swapping seven from the draw at Watford and Tottenham changing eight from the side which lost at home to Arsenal in the North London derby.
And City almost made the perfect start when a loose touch on the edge of the Spurs penalty area presented the ball to Jack Rudoni who saw his effort tipped behind by Fraser Forster inside the first minute.
City enjoyed a fine spell towards the end of the first half as Jake Bidwell’s cross from the left reached Rudoni at the back post only for Forster to make another important stop.
Moments later, Josh Eccles played a stunning diagonal ball in behind the Spurs defence into the path of Bassette who saw his effort superbly tipped over by Forster although the referee opted to award a goal kick.
The visitors made a bright start to the second half as a City defender made a crucial block to deny substitute Brennan Johnson while Thomas-Asante saw his effort deflected wide at the other end.
Coventry broke again soon after as Rudoni released Bassette down the left channel as the young striker drove into the box and forced Forster into a save low down to his left.
City were left incensed just before the hour mark when Forster appeared to wipe out Bidwell as he attempted to latch onto Ben Wilson’s long ball forward before Haji Wright was denied a certain goal by the sliding Radu Dragusin.
Moments later, Thomas-Asante shot inches over the crossbar following an exchange with Rudoni before Spurs threatened for the first time at the other end as Wilson superbly turned Ben Davies’ header behind.
Just past the hour mark Spurs introduced Son Heung-min and former Coventry man James Maddison only for City to strike with their next attack.
A quick break saw the ball worked to Bassette down the left who delivered a low cross into the path of Thomas-Asante who produced an excellent first time finish past Forster.
City almost grabbed a second goal when Bidwell crossed for substitute Ellis Simms with fellow sub Ephron Mason-Clark just unable to turn home the striker’s header as the ball trickled past the post.
At the other end, Maddison received the ball with time and space around 25-yards from goal only to shoot wide before Wilson made a remarkable save to deny Dejan Kulusevski from inside the box.
However, Spurs grabbed an equaliser on 88 minutes when Spence finished past Wilson from Kulusevski’s through ball.
And the visitors completed a remarkable late turnaround two minutes into injury time when Rodrigo Bentancur slipped in Johnson who coolly finished past Wilson when one-on-one to leave the Sky Blues stunned.
