Fulham suffered an embarrassing League Cup exit as the Premier League side were beaten 2-0 by Crawley in a second round shock on Tuesday.
Marco Silva’s side are 83 places above League Two Crawley and beat Brentford 3-2 in the Premier League on Saturday.
But the Fulham manager’s decision to make 10 changes backfired badly at the Broadfield Stadium as struggling Crawley upset the form book.
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 Liv-erpool loanee James Balagizi.
The Cottagers joined Norwich and Leeds on the list of top-flight clubs who have suffered cup em-barrassment at Crawley in recent years.
Silva handed debuts to Issa Diop, Marlon Fossey and 17-year-old academy graduate Luke Harris, while Shane Duffy and Kevin Mbabu made their first starts.
But 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.
“From the first minute they wanted it more than us. We lost a bit of control of the game and started to make some mistakes, then they scored and everything was more difficult for us,” Silva said.
“These type of games you have to equalise with the same enthusiasm, the same intensity as our op-ponent.”
The Premier League clubs involved in this sea-son’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 third round.
“You are always looking for the right reaction and response,” Gerrard said. 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 af-ter 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.—APP
