This was an absolute FA Cup classic for the ages. It was blood and thunder, great drama and a cracking atmosphere at St Andrew’s.

And proof that English football’s famous old knockout competition is very much alive and well. Eventually, it took a penalty shoot-out to send Leeds into the fifth round after an epic tie which was a real throwback to days gone by.

By the end, Leeds were so knackered they could barely muster the energy to go over to their fans to celebrate Sean Longstaff’s winning spot kick in the shootout.

They had given absolutely everything and some of the Leeds players were down with cramp as others took it in turns to milk the applause and roar from the away end.

You had to feel sorry for brave Birmingham City who gave everything and probably deserved more but they also only had themselves to blame for missing a hatful of chances.

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Birmingham substitute Patrick Roberts’ deflected 89th minute shot took the tie into extra time and no neutral wanted it to end. Incredibly, Blues substitute Ibrahim Osman even hit the inside of the post in the sixth minute of injury time which would have denied us the extra drama.

The home fans sang “We’re Birmingham City, we’ll fight to the end.” And that is exactly what they did. They gave everything and with heart and spirit like this, they are on the way back.

Leeds also showed real grit and fight and, since going out to Crawley in 2021, this was the third time they have reached the fifth round in five years.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke has instilled a new never-say-die spirit in his side in the last three months and they have a six-point cushion above the drop zone and a cup run to look forward to.

The doom mongers who write off the FA Cup because replays were scrapped and penalties were introduced are entitled to their view and you feel for lower league teams who miss out on a second payday.

But the one-off ties have added a whole new dimension to the excitement and it also brought a modern feel to a very old school cup tie.

It was a nice moment 13 minutes in when Birmingham fans applauded and a message was shown on the big screen to wish their American owner Tom Wagner - that is his lucky number - well after he suffered a stroke this week.

Birmingham are a club on the up with their new ownership and they have a big player in Jay Stansfield who produced an early piece of magic with Leeds keeper Lucas Perri somehow pushing the ball onto the inside of the post.

It was nearly all one-way traffic for Birmingham in the first half - but they just could not find a way through. Twice Demarai Gray went close and Leeds were overrun. Birmingham’s on-loan midfielder Jhon Solis was outstanding.

Farke had been criticised in the past for not being proactive with his substitutes but he has been lately and he wasted no time in replacing lightweight playmaker Facundo Buonanotte with Ethan Ampadu to provide more steel in midfield.

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Leeds were ahead four minutes after the restart. There was some super play by Noah Okafor, Lukas Nmecha rode a challenge and then unleashed a low shot which flew past Birmingham keeper Ryan Allsop.

Birmingham missed so many chances. Osman was the worst culprit. But they never gave up. When yet another corner was not cleared, the ball fell to Roberts and his shot was deflected in off Leeds defender James Justin.

Osman had that chance in the 96th minute and in extra time Dominic Calvert-Lewin was denied by Allsop. But it went all the way to penalties and Leeds won the toss to shoot into the away end.

Stansfield and Marvin Ducksch converted for the Blues but Tommy Doyle and Roberts missed. Joel Piroe, Calvert-Lewin, Brenden Aaronson and Longstaff were all on target for Leeds.

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