Crawley shock Stoke on penalties to book spot in Carabao Cup fourth round

League Two Crawley dumped championship strugglers Stoke out of the Carabao Cup on penalties after the third round tie had finished 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.

The Reds were successful with all of their spot kicks in a 5-3 shoot-out win, progressing after Sam Vokes became the second man to miss for Stoke.

Potters boss Nathan Jones made no fewer than ten changes and saw his side go ahead through Vokes, but Crawley displayed great spirit to book a place in the last 16.

Crawley fielded the same side that shocked Premier League Norwich in the previous round and Nathan Ferguson and Reece Grego-Cox were both off target from the edge of the area in the opening ten minutes.

Stoke threatened when a strong run by Tommy Smith stretched the Crawley defence, but the onrushing Scott Hogan put the ball over in an offside position.

The Potters broke the deadlock on 23 minutes when, following a corner by Ryan Woods, Liam Lindsay had a shot blocked and Sam Vokes tucked in the rebound for his third goal of the season.

Grego-Cox twice went close for the Reds before the hosts levelled on 37 minutes through Ferguson, who fired home following a low cross by David Sesay.

Crawley had a penalty appeal waved away shortly after the break when Ollie Palmer went down under a challenge from Danny Batth.

The Potters were reduced to ten men just after the hour mark when defender Nathan Collins received a straight red card for a late tackle on Panutche Camara.

Bez Lubala had a shot saved by Adam Federici before Reds striker Palmer drove a fierce shot inches over.

FourFourTwo Staff

FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.