Stockport County caused a dramatic upset by beating Bolton Wanderers, who are two divisions above them, 5-3 after extra-time to secure their place in the FA Cup second round.
It was a disastrous start to the game for County who committed men forward and conceded early on, defensive errors then cost them a further two goals.
They got themselves back into it with a converted penalty before grabbing another just before half-time.
The Hatters had strong support behind them and it proved to be enough, they found the equaliser with just seven minutes to go, forcing an extra half an hour.
Their confidence levels rose, and as a result they secured victory with two extra-time goals.
A historic upset
The last time County beat Bolton in the FA Cup was all the way back in 1910. This win brings them level with both sides now having won nine games against each other, drawing seven.
As a former Football League club themselves, this win will live long in the memory of all fans, and to have it documented on live TV makes it even better.
Manager Dave Challinor spoke about the occasion after the game, he said:
”It was a night this place hasn’t seen for a long time.”
His blue army will certainly be hoping they won’t have to wait just as long to see more success, with dreams of promotion back to the EFL.
Bolton must do better
For large parts of the game it was hard to tell that there were two divisions to separate these sides. County had far better opportunities and two of Bolton’s goals came from errors made by the home side.
Perhaps a silver lining is that this now allows them to focus on their league form, but it was a disappointing night for Wanderers fans.
Their manager Ian Evatt labelled the performance as ‘the worst he’s seen’ since he arrived at the club.
What the managers have said
Challinor praised his team's performance, saying:
“We produced a performance which in the short time I've been here has shown what we’re all about. Our players have to find that belief, that if we want to, we can achieve something special.”
The fixture saw a crowd over just over 10,000 and when asked about this he said:
”Hopefully there's some new supporters that have seen what we’re trying to do and will come back for the next league game.
“It was an amazing night, I wish we had the opportunity to celebrate with the supporters, but I completely get where they’re at.”
Evatt spoke about how his team weren’t up for it on the night, he said:
“From minute one, even though we took the lead, we were outplayed, outfought, outbattled, out-ran. It’s not acceptable and they deserved it, credit to them.
“We can concentrate on pass detail, rotation, technical positions, playing out from the back and all that nonsense. You have to run and fight and scrap and tonight we didn’t do that well enough.”
What’s next
Stockport County return to National League action at the weekend when they travel to Woking, while Bolton face a tough trip to Wycombe Wanderers who are one of the favourites to gain promotion from League One.