Leicester City's Carling Cup adventure was brought to an unfortunate end by Fulham at the second round stage on Wednesday evening.
Two goals in as many minutes from Paul Dickov and Andy King at the start of the second half had cancelled out Zoltan Gera's deflected 31st minute opener.
However, Jimmy Bullard's well-worked equaliser seven minutes from time looked to have taken the game into extra-time.
But Danny Murphy's deflected shot in injury time handed the Premier League side a rather fortunate passage into the next round.
It was harsh on Nigel Pearson's men who controlled the game for long periods with Steve Howard seeing an effort cleared off the line while Matty Fryatt and Lloyd Dyer also came close.
Yet, despite the defeat, the City players left the field to a standing ovation from the Blue Army who had seen their side more than match their top flight opponents.
The hosts created the opening chance of the game inside a minute when Jimmy Bullard cut in from the right, but his shot lacked power and direction and drifted harmlessly wide.
At the other end, Mark Schwarzer was forced into a save from Steve Howard's shot from the edge of the area, after the big man had been played in by strike partner Matty Fryatt.
Bobby Zamora fired well wide on nine minutes before Bullard's shot was deflected behind off Michael Morrison for a corner soon after.
Lloyd Dyer then raced the full length of the pitch after winning possession on the edge of his own area but saw his shot gathered by a diving Schwarzer.
City continued to assert themselves on their Premier League opponents and on 14 minutes, Fryatt's shot was blocked by Brede Hangeland six yards out after a neat pull-back from the left-hand by-line by Dyer.
Zamora, arriving at the back post, just failed to connect properly with Gera's teasing right wing cross in the 20th minute.
However, the home side did take the lead on 31 minutes when Gera's cross-shot from the left was unfortunately deflected into his own net by Morrison, leaving 'keeper David Martin wrong-footed.
The Foxes came close to equalising on 41 minutes but Morrison, who seemed to have been impeded whilst battling for the ball at the back post, narrowly failed to meet Dyer's dangerous inswinging cross from the left flank.
A minute later, Dickov headed narrowly over from another Dyer cross before the diminutive striker tried his luck just before the break, but this time saw his shot on the run, fail to trouble Schwarzer.
And therefore it remained 1-0 to Fulham at half-time.
Max Gradel replaced Fryatt for the start of the second half and it paid immediate dividends when his cross from the right was only half cleared and Dickov was on hand to fire the ball home from close range for the leveller much to the Blue Army's delight.
And it got even better for the Foxes on 48 minutes when Dickov again did well inside the area and found Andy King, who then composed himself before curling an exquisite effort past a helpless Schwarzer for his side's second in as many minutes.
City were running riot and Fulham had Aaron Hughes to thank in the 51st minute when he cleared Howard's shot off the line after Schwarzer had failed to gather under pressure from Aleksandar Tunchev.
Gradel's shot was deflected in the 55th minute for a corner as the visitors looked for a third while debutant Chris Powell threw his body on the line moments later to block Bullard's goal-bound effort.
Erik Nevland replaced Seol Ki-Hyeon on 59 minutes then Schwarzer raced off his line to nick the ball away from a predatory Dickov five minutes later.
Roy Hodgson's side enjoyed a sustained spell of pressure but City's defence remained solid as the game entered its final 20 minutes.
Goalscorer King drove a shot wide on 71 minutes before Howard just failed to steer Dyer's inswinging free-kick goalwards four minutes later.
Schwarzer collected easily from Gradel's shot in the 77th minute before Nevland had a goal disallowed for offside a minute later.
However, the hosts drew level on 83 minutes when Bullard played a neat one-two with Simon Davies on the edge of the penalty area before unleashing a fierce shot past Martin for the leveller much to the relief of the Fulham faithful.
DJ Campbell came on for Dickov in the 87th minute then Martin got down well to save Bullard's long range free-kick.
Kerrea Gilbert came close to nicking it for the Foxes a minute from time but saw his low drive shave the left hand post with Schwarzer beaten.
However, City hearts were broken in stoppage time when Danny Murphy's speculative shot was deflected into the net by an unfortunate Gilbert.
City: Martin, Gilbert, Morrison, Tunchev, Powell, Dickov (Campbell 87), Wesolowski, King A, Dyer, Howard ©, Fryatt (Gradel 45). Subs not used: Adams, Kishishev, Henderson, King C, Hobbs.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Hangeland, Ki-Hyeon (Nevland 59), Zamora, Gera, Murphy ©, Hughes, Bullard, Stoor, Davies, Kallio. Subs not used: Zuberbuhler, Pantsil, Andranik, Dempsey, Andreasen, Baird.
Yellow Cards
City: None
Fulham: None
Referee: Paul Taylor
Attendance: 7,584
