Bristol Rovers 1-0 Cardiff City (AET)
- Published
League One Bristol Rovers stunned Championship Cardiff City to set up an EFL Cup second round visit to Chelsea.
A contest of few chances was settled by Chris Lines' stunning strike deep into extra time, as Rovers deservedly won.
Rovers might have won in normal time but failed to take advantage of Cardiff's failure to register a shot on target until the 104th minute.
Cardiff sub Frederic Gounongbe almost earned a penalty shoot-out, but his close-range effort hit the post.
Earlier, Lines had shot tamely at Simon Moore and Bluebirds defender Sean Morrison produced a tremendous goal-line clearance to deny Stuart Sinclair after Matty Taylor's clever header across goal as the hosts pushed.
The second half failed to bring the expected improvement from Cardiff, though Bruno Manga almost turned into his own net as the hosts chased victory.
Anthony Pilkington did hit the target on 104 minutes but goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall denied him, before Simon Moore brilliantly kept out Taylor's vicious strike.
Lines' wonder strike then sent the Memorial Ground into raptures, booking Darrell Clarke's side a trip to Stamford Bridge.
The Bluebirds suffered a further blow when boss Paul Trollope said after the game that midfielder Stuart O'Keefe had suffered a suspected broken arm during the match.
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