The 34-year-old started the match for Spurs as part of a three-man central defence with Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul as manager Harry Redknapp reshaped his side to deal with the combative approach of Stevenage.
The move paid off in that Spurs held firm in the face of a spirited display by the League One side, who knocked Newcastle United out of the competition two years ago, but Redknapp’s men struggled to put together their usual free-flowing football at the other end.
Tottenham thought they had taken the lead in the 54th minute when Louis Saha – who arrived at White Hart Lane with Nelsen during the January transfer window – turned the ball towards goal but it took a deflection off Scott Parker, standing on the line in an offside position, and was disallowed.
Nelsen performed well in his first start since August and showed no ill effects from his long-term knee injury, getting through the 90 minutes with ease.
But the result will have come as a disappointment to Nelsen, who proclaimed his eagerness to lift the FA Cup in the build up to the match, though Spurs will be heavy favourites to progress to the next round in the replay at White Hart Lane.
Nelsen reached two semi-finals with former club Blackburn Rovers, a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in 2005 and a 2-1 loss in extra time to Chelsea two years later, and is keen to finally go one better.
“This squad is good enough to go on and win it, and I know it’s a priority here,” he said.
“I’ve been to three semi-finals, two of them in the FA Cup, so it would obviously be nice to push on. I’ve had a bit of a taste of it and have come so close to getting to a final so I feel I’ve got a bit of unfinished business with the competition.”

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