Coventry City are through to the second round of the FA Youth Cup after surviving a late Shrewsbury Town fightback to edge a seven-goal classic on Wednesday night.
City led 2-0 at half-time courtesy of a Jack Finch header before the lively Louis Garner doubled the lead with a fine solo effort.
George Carpenter then pulled one back for the Shrews a minute after the re-start but any hopes of a comeback seemed to have been extinguished when Coventry captain Ricky Fletcher fired home in the 57th minute.
Striker Courtney Baker-Richardson then added a fourth to put the home side in a seemingly unassailable position.
At 4-1 the game seemed done and dusted but the visitors got an immediate boost from the kick-off as Scott Yran was able to pick the ball and fire low into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
With the deficit reduced to two, the Shrews threw men forward and their persistence and never-say-die spirit paid off again when substitute Kaiman Anderson rounded Shane Fagan in the City goal to reduce the arrears to one in the 89th minute.
However, the Sky Blues hung on during a nervous six minutes of stoppage time and will now face the winners of the Oldham Athletic v Accrington Stanley tie which is scheduled to be played tonight.
Coventry will be joined in the second round by Northampton Town, who despatched Chesterfield 3-0 thanks to an Ivan Bracey double and a David Moyo strike.
Elsewhere Lincoln City saw off Notts County 3-2, while Hartlepool United, their second round opponents, saw off Fleetwood 5-3 on penalties.
