TONY PULIS saluted the never-say-die spirit of his players after Stoke City triumphed in a seven-goal thriller to go through to the fourth round of the Carling Cup.

City's manager saw his side fight back from two goals down in a dramatic second half to eventually beat Blackpool 4-3 with an injury time goal from Andy Griffin.

Despite the fact that Liam Lawrence missed a penalty, the Potter's perseverance paid off as goals from Danny Higginbotham, Ricardo Fuller and Matthew Etherington in the space of six dramatic minutes transformed a two-goal deficit into a 3-2 lead.

Although Ben Burgess equalised for Blackpool shortly afterwards, Griffin struck in the fifth minute of injury time when it seemed the tie would go to extra-time.

"Fuller and Etherington will get much of the credit after their introduction, but fair play to all the players who were out there, they never stopped," said Pulis.

"They just kept going and even when we missed the penalty and then another couple of good chances, I thought we could get back into the tie."

He added: "When you make 11 changes, they are not going to gel straight away, but Blackpool deserve some credit for the way that they performed. I am disappointed in one sense for Ian Holloway because they contributed to a great tie."

Holloway admitted that he was "in dream land" after his side went 2-0 up and as he put it: "Our second was a headed goal from a midget."

But he felt the difference was the substitutions, adding: "Tony Pulis got his substitutions right, I didn't get mine on quick enough.

"By the time my substitute had warmed up professionally, Stoke had pulled it back to 2-2 and within minutes of him going on it was 3-2."

Blackpool's manager added: "It was a fantastic cup tie, but I felt that we deserved a draw to take the tie to extra time. It wasn't to be though.

"The Stoke supporters were fantastic. They kept encouraging the players even when they were 2-0 down and that certainly helped them."