Crawley Town 2-1 Bolton
- Published
Nick Ajose struck late on to secure a shock win for League One Crawley over Bolton and send Wanderers out of the Capital One Cup.
Benik Afobe, on-loan from Arsenal, gave the Championship side the lead when he scored in the 21st minute.
But substitute Billy Clarke equalised with nine minutes remaining, drilling a low effort into the net.
With extra time looming, Ajose scored in the 92nd minute to put Crawley through to the third round.
Crawley have self belief - Barker
Crawley boast a good pedigree of knocking Championship sides out of cup competitions, having seen off Derby, Bristol City, Hull City and Millwall since January 2011.
They started well against Bolton as Kyle McFadzean struck the crossbar with a header inside the first few minutes.
However, the visitors took the lead with their first meaningful effort as Martin Petrov poked the ball through to Afobe and the striker rounded the Crawley keeper before finishing.
Despite that setback, Crawley continued to create chances as Ajose dragged a shot wide from distance before Nicky Adams's shot was deflected wide.
Clarke was introduced from the substitutes' bench in the 75th minute and needed just six minutes to make a telling contribution, equalising with a crisply-hit low effort.
The game look destined for extra time but Ajose headed beyond Bolton goalkeeper Andy Lonergan from Clarke's late cross to seal victory.
VIEWS FROM THE DRESSING ROOMS
Crawley boss Richie Barker told BBC Sussex:
"I thought it was a fantastic game of football and we deserved to win it.
"I said to the players at half-time that 5 to 10 per-cent more self-belief would win the game and I felt that even though it didn't look like it was going to be our day, the self-belief kicked in and we deserved it.
"The third round is the furthest I've ever reached as a manager, it's a good bit of history and who know where we might be in a couple of weeks time."
Bolton boss Owen Coyle: "We lost a game we should have won. You are never safe at 1-0 and we conceded two soft goals.
"We made changes and it was important those young players got games.
"We had enough good players to win but fair play to Crawley. Having said that we should have seen the game through. We were in a good position to win but we didn't manage it."