With his side having gone 1-0 down in the first half after Neil Barrett's shock opener at the Britannia Stadium, Delap turned the game on its head within three minutes by launching two missiles into the York box which both resulted in goals.

The unfortunate Danny Parslow could only deflect the first past his goalkeeper Michael Ingham and Ricardo Fuller headed home to make it 2-1 a minute later after Delap's throw had caused chaos once again.

Matthew Etherington sealed the Potters' passage into round four with a deliciously curled free-kick after the break, but it was Delap's trademark deliveries that continued to terrorise the York defence throughout the 90 minutes.

Foyle could only admire Stoke's less-than-secret weapon, and believes it could be decisive in maintaining the Potters' Barclays Premier League status this season.

"It's a fantastic asset and I think it's contributed to a lot of Stoke's goals over last season and this season," Foyle said.

"We defended them very well in training but on the day, the trajectory of it is absolutely frightening.

"It's high, low, left, right and it's a missile that could keep Stoke in the Premier League again."

Asked how his players could simulate the Delap throw-in in training, Foyle said: "They can when they are 10 yards off the touchline and it's an over-arm throw with one arm!

"A lot of teams think, how can you actually defend it?

"I've seen a lot of teams kick good balls out for corners - our lads said it was actually easier to defend corners."

Foyle might reasonably have expected that his team would not have to face Delap but, having made widespread changes to his starting XI for the Carling Cup this season, Tony Pulis sprung a surprise by naming a strong side for the third-round tie.

"I wouldn't say it was my best team, but it was a strong team," Pulis said.

"We've not been able to train so hard over the last couple of days because of weather conditions at the training ground so I had a good chat with players as it was a three-game week.

"I said I would cut back on the training. We train quite hard at this football club, quite intense, but I said we'd cut back on that a little bit but we'd train hard for the games when they came round."

Pulis' decision was vindicated as his team completed victory with a performance that became increasingly comfortable, although at one stage, it had appeared as if the game might not be played at all.

As news came through that the York team coach was delayed by bad weather, the kick-off time was moved back to 3.30pm with referee Mike Jones setting a 3pm deadline for the Minstermen's arrival which they only just managed to meet.

"We set off at quarter past 10, ample time to get here," Foyle said.

"It was one of those days when everything happened against us. People said we should have come down overnight but that wasn't what was on the agenda on the time.

"We arrived at 3pm but we are not using that as an excuse. Stoke were great about it and the referee was fantastic and organised.

"We played a game of football and I'm not looking at that as an excuse.

"The players had half an hour to warm up. Yes, it's a little bit of a panic, but look on the bright side - they didn't have time to think about it, go out, look at the pitch and start worrying about Stoke City."

Pulis admitted he had thought the game would be postponed.

He said: "There was one stage where we were told they (York) were a good distance away, and we thought they would never get here. It was really in grave doubt at that stage."