Owen Coyle heaped praise on his Bolton Wanderers side’s determination after they edged an enticing clash with Birmingham City to reach the FA Cup semi-finals on Saturday.
Coyle’s visitors twice threw away the lead before substitute Chong Yong-Lee struck a last-gasp winner to book a semi-final date at Wembley next month.
The Bolton manager was thrilled with his side’s fighting spirit at St Andrews. He said: “Both teams went all out to book their place in the semi-final and we showed great character and determination to claim the victory.
“We have to give great credit to Birmingham because they kept coming back.
“Having got 2-1 in front, we should have scored a third with the chances that we created, but then you get Kevin Phillips doing what he does best by magnificently converting what seemed like a half-chance.
“However, we picked ourselves up to get the winning goal. It was a great knock-down by the skipper and a super finish by Chung-Yong.”
Johan Elmander opened the scoring after 21 minutes when the Sweden international drove a ferocious shot past Birmingham’s goalkeeper Ben Foster.
But Cameron Jerome equalised for the home side eight minutes before half-time when he capitalised on a David Wheater’s poor clearance and placed his effort past Jussi Jaaskelainen.
The visitors took the lead again after the break through Kevin Davies’s spot-kick after Curtis Davies had fouled the Bolton captain but Kevin Phillips soon levelled matters once again when the former Sunderland striker sublimely lobbed Jaaskelainen from 20 yards.
Chung-Yong grabbed the winner one minute from time when he evaded the attentions of Liam Ridgewell and Curtis Davies to nod home Kevin Davies’s knock-down and book Bolton’s place in the semis.