Scott Partridge wrote his name into BathCity folklore with a brace of goals at Conference high-flyers Barnet to cap one of the most memorable FA Cup fightbacks in the club's recent history. Failing to muster a single noteworthy chance in the opening 45 minutes, Gary Owers' men looked set to concede a hatful of goals as the Bees ran them ragged from the very first whistle.
And when Liam Hatch gave the hosts the lead early in the second half, few would have given the Southern Premier side any hope of mustering a Cup shock.
But City showed bagfuls of guts and determination and they made sure they stung the Bees where it hurt as Partridge pounced on some ragged defending to equalise midway through the half, before slamming home the winner in stoppage time.
Owers was forced to reorganise the heart of his defence with Sam Bailey partnering Steve Jones in the absence of ankle injury victim Mike Trought, but was otherwise able to select a first-choice side with John Williams coming back into the starting line-up after missing Tuesday's 1-1 draw at Hednesford with a migraine.
On paper, City had an unenviable task at Underhill with the Conference leaders averaging three goals a game and scoring for fun on their home patch.
In fact, Barnet looked set to continue their goal-scoring spree from the outset as Ben Strevens failed by inches to connect with a Richard Graham cross after only 30 seconds.
When Hatch headed wide from an Ian Hendon cross minutes later, the writing looked to be on the wall for the visitors as they were hemmed in their own half for long periods.
Forced to hit the ball long to the tireless strike pairing of Williams and Partridge, City created very little in the way of chances and good crosses by Alex Sykes and Williams failed to carve open precious opportunities.
The home side's dominance was no better emphasised than by a flurry of openings in the space of a few seconds midway through the half. First, Strevens forced Steve Perrin into a sprawling near-post save after neat work down the right hand side, and then Hatch somehow fired wide of goal 12 yards out after running on to an inch-perfect pass from ex-Bristol City midfielder Simon Clist.
Bobby Ford mustered arguably City's only real attempt on goal in the first period, when he hit a fierce-looking shot straight at Ismail Yakubu on the edge of the area, but the Bees hit back with Giuliano Grazioli and Hatch combining before Perrin pulled off a smart stop to deny the latter.
Hatch again should have done better when he headed straight at the City shot-stopper six yards out from a Graham free-kick and he was left frustrated once more when, despite, hitting the bar, play was hauled back for a foul on Jones.
The big Bees frontman was again in the thick of the action ten minutes before half-time when he saw a goal ruled out for offside, while top-scorer Grazioli, uncharacteristically, shot tamely at Perrin when completely unmarked.
But Barnet didn't have to wait long to ram home their superiority as the miscuing Hatch finally found the range three minutes into the second half.
A deft ball over the top by Graham caught Bailey and Jones napping and the former Gravesend striker needed no invitation to advance through on goal and smash a sweetly-struck shot in at Perrin's near post.
Weaker teams would have buckled, but notCity. Hatch's goal merely laid the foundations for another Cup fairytale.
Nobody epitomised City's character and spirit more than Partridge and he showed his teammates the way forward by running at the heart of the Bees defence straight from the restart, eventually firing wide of Scott Tynan's goal.
Owers began to prowl in midfield and a number of fierce challenges added bite to Bath's cause with the City player-boss leading by example by firing a rasping shot over Tynan's bar.
Grazioli again scuffed a golden opportunity to double the hosts' lead, while Williams carved out a gilt-edged chance for Jimmy Benefield. Showing pace and strength of old, Williams shrugged off Clist and squared the ball beautifully from the by-line to the young Bath winger, but he swung his shot wildly over the bar.
Ford was forced off the field after injuring himself during a strong tackle on Hendon, but three minutes later, the match was all-square. A long-range strike from Sykes fizzed through a crowd of players and Tynan spilled the ball only to see a scurrying Partridge advance on the loose ball and tuck the chance home.
Bath's noisy band of fans erupted into a frenzy and they were almost in heaven when the deadly duo bisected Barnet's defence once more, this time with Partridge crossing for Williams to stick out a long leg and send the ball squirming past the far post.
With less than 15 minutes to go, Barnet poured forward in search of a winner and Hatch forced Perrin into an excellent stop before Grazioli's follow-up effort was blocked by a combination of Jones and Bailey.
Bailey again had to be at his most alert when he just got a touch on a goal-bound effort by substitute Lee Roache and with the clock running down, both sides seemed set to do battle once again at TwertonPark in a replay.
Partridge had other ideas. A monster clearance downfield by Owers found the effervescent centre forward and he got in behind Yakubu and forced Tynan into a fumbled save. And as the young Bees keeper tried to clear his lines, Partridge nipped in and somehow squeezed the ball home from the tightest of angles to send the City faithful into raptures.
