DAVID Hopkin praised City's strength of character after they were edged out of an FA Cup thriller on penalties.

The second-round replay with Peterborough finished 4-4 at Valley Parade before the visitors went through 3-2 in the shoot-out.

But Hopkin was encouraged by the way his side recovered from a two-goal deficit at half-time to lead before getting pegged back again.

He said: "It was a fantastic cup game and both sets of players deserve great credit for the spectacle.

"I thought we didn't deserve to be 3-1 down in the first half because we played some great football.

"But I told the players at half-time that we could get back in the game again. We were 2-0 down at Peterborough and I knew we had players in the team to hurt them.

"What an effort to come back to lead 4-3 and then we conceded another free header, which disappoints.

"But the energy levels were fantastic and I thought Peterborough were out on their feet.

"We're disappointed to go out on penalties but it was a great effort from the players.

"It could have been five or six each. But the players showed fantastic character to come back like they did.

"Penalty kicks are a lottery and we have to take it on the chin and move on."

Following on from the 3-3 draw with Plymouth at the weekend, City enjoyed another scoring free-for-all.

George Miller netted twice and David Ball and Paul Caddis were also on the scoresheet in a game that saw 57 shots at goal.

Hopkin added: "It's things we work on all the time and the players are starting to believe.

"We've got a three of Jack Payne, David Ball and Lewis O'Brien who are causing all sorts of problems for teams with their energy. They are small and very good technical footballers.

"We need to cut out the goals. But to come back like we did was a fantastic effort and shows how far we've come over the last couple of months."