Overlooked completely throughout Eriksson's reign so far, Samaras was finally handed his chance against Coca-Coal Championship strugglers Norwich at Eastlands tonight and responded in the perfect manner, netting an 89th-minute winner to take City into the last 16.

It was a rare high spot for the Greece striker since Stuart Pearce spent £6million to sign him from Heerenveen two years ago.

Eriksson was so unconvinced by his talent he told Samaras he should look for another club before the transfer window shut in August.

Instead, the 22-year-old chose to remain with the Blues and fight for his place. And Eriksson is happy to give him a decent opportunity to win the battle.

"Georgios has a contract here and he has a future here," said Eriksson.

"If he carries on playing like that, I will use him.

"The goal is fantastic for his confidence and I am really pleased for him because he has not been playing for us."

Despite his lack of first-team chances so far, Eriksson revealed Samaras had never once banged on his door demanding to know why he was continually being ignored.

The only time the pair have spoken in depth was at the end of last month when, despite interest from both England and overseas, Samaras confirmed his intention to remain where he was.

"He told me at the end of August that he wanted to stay and fight for his place, which is exactly what he has done," said Eriksson.

"He has never complained and never done anything stupid in training. He has always worked hard and been extremely positive.

"I heard there were clubs in Spain, Portugal and England who inquired but I don't know if they were really good offers or not.

"I did speak to some players when I came here and told them I couldn't give them much football. One of them was Georgios. I told him if he found a club willing to discuss things with us that would be okay but he likes the Premier League and he wanted to stay."

Samaras did waste a couple of opportunities earlier in the game but City looked certain to head into extra-time before he pounced onto Kelvin Etuhu's through ball in the final minute.

His calm finish kept alive City's hopes of ending their 31-year trophy drought, although they will have to do much better than this if they are to progress any further.

Norwich manager Peter Grant could only express his frustration at the cruel ending although, after seeing Darren Huckerby added to a string of current injuries, he was delighted with his side's battling performance.

"The result was a big disappointment but not the way we played," he said.

"It can be a cruel game sometimes but if we were going to lose, I would rather lose it playing that way.

"I felt the very least we deserved was to take it into extra-time.

"We looked the most threatening. We moved the ball well and created chances. Maybe we could have been a bit more clinical but that is all."