Carabao Cup: Fulham suffer shock exit against fourth-tier Crawley; Everton, Leicester, Aston Villa through to next round
Former Fulham striker Kevin Betsy, who has taken only a single point from his first five matches as Crawley manager, masterminded a memorable victory thanks to goals from Tom Nichols and Liverpool loanee James Balagizi.
The Cottagers joined Norwich and Leeds on the list of top-flight clubs who have suffered cup embarrassment at Crawley in recent years.
Fulham fell behind with 16 minutes on the clock when Nichols took Ashley Nadesan’s pass and drilled a low left-footed drive across Marek Rodak into the far corner.
Just four minutes into the second half, Fulham midfielder Tyrese Francois conceded possession deep inside his own half and Balagizi seized on Nichols’ reverse pass to slot home.
The Premier League clubs involved in this season’s European competitions have a bye into the third round, leaving the spotlight on Aston Villa, Everton and Leicester in the other second round ties.
Villa came from behind to spare Steven Gerrard’s blushes in a 4-1 win at Bolton.
After a frustrating start to the season and just three wins from 14 games stretching back to March, questions were being asked of Villa’s direction under Gerrard.
The Premier League side were stunned as Dion Charles gave third tier Bolton a 24th-minute lead, but Douglas Luiz levelled directly from a corner.
Danny Ings put Villa ahead with a 62nd-minute penalty and further goals from Lucas Digne and Leon Bailey eased Villa into the next round.
Everton are also off to a slow start in the Premier League and they only scraped into the third round with a 1-0 victory at League One side Fleetwood.
A first-half goal from Demarai Gray, playing after Tom Davies was injured in the warm-up, ensured Frank Lampard’s side progressed.
Leicester needed a 3-1 penalty shoot-out victory to avoid a shock defeat at fourth tier Stockport, who held Brendan Rodgers’ troubled side to a 0-0 draw.
Without a win in three Premier League games and with Wesley Fofana and James Maddison linked with moves, Leicester needed debutant keeper Daniel Iversen to make three saves in the shoot-out before they advanced.
Bournemouth edged past Norwich as Todd Cantwell missed the decisive penalty in the Cherries’ 5-3 shoot-out victory after a 2-2 draw at Carrow Road.
Wolves striker Raul Jimenez celebrated his opener by wearing an eye patch and pirate hook as his team beat Preston 2-1 at Molineux.
Southampton cruised to a 3-0 victory at Cambridge and Nottingham Forest beat Grimsby by the same score.
Crystal Palace won 2-0 at Oxford and Brentford eased to a 2-0 victory at Colchester.
