Stoke 0-0 Tottenham (aet, 7-6 pens): Sorensen saves the Potters

Aussie teenager Massimo Luongo suffered the ultimate indignity on his debut, with the crucial miss that gifted Stoke a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory.

The Spurs youngster was given the uneviable task of taking his side's eight spot kicks in the sudden death showdown, and cruelly saw his attempt saved by sprawling home keeper Thomas Sorensen.

His manager Harry Redknapp defended the decision to put such pressure on an untried youngster when he said: "He's OK. Of course. The kid had the bottle to step up and take one, didn't he?

"So did the other youngsters - it was good experience for him and for them all. If Pav had scored his pen, he wouldn't have had to take one, would he?"

It meant that local boy Ryan Shotton was the fitting hero for Stoke, with his penalty conversion proving the decisive one after Jermaine Pennant and Roman Pavlyuchenko misses had cancelled each other out.

The sudden-death drama came at the end of a Carling Cup tie that was anything but dramatic.

Even the fascinating sub-plot of a Peter Crouch cameo couldn't raise the game above the dismal.

The former Spurs striker was pitched in from the bench against his old club after just 12 minutes, because of injury to Kenwyne Jones, to set up a tantilising prospect of revenge.

But the towering centre-forward fluffed his golden chance to stick two fingers up to the former club who kicked him out, when he missed a sitter early in extra time.

Crouch did at least have the satisfaction of converting from the spot in the shoot-out to help his new club through to the last 16, though for much of the night it seemed neither side wanted that honour.

Between them, both sides rested 16 players from the weekend to set the tone for night, and while there was still the quality of Rafael van der Vaart on show, it was rarely evident.

In fairness, the game improved slightly after a desperate opening half, but Livermore and Pavlyuchenko for Spurs couldn't convert from good positions, while Van der Vaart curled a free-kick just wide and the contest dipped again to its previous low in an endless extra time.

Afterwards, Redknapp was unsurprisingly philosophical, but insisted victory still hurt... a little.

"We came here to win. We wanted to stay in the competition," he smiled.

"We wanted to go to Wembley, for sure. If I wanted to lose, I would have played the youth team."

For Stoke boss Tony Pulis, the character of his side was the defining factor on the night.

"I haven't done too well in shoot-outs before," he said, "but the lads showed bottle, and they kept going all night, which was pleasing."