Exeter City are into Round Two of the Carabao Cup after coming from a goal down to defeat Crawley Town 2-1 at St James Park.
The Grecians went into the match as the favourites but it was Crawley who took a shock 15th minute lead through Klaidi Lolos, a player who started his senior career down the road with The Grecians' bitter rivals Plymouth Argyle.
It took Exeter 73 minutes to finally find the back of the net. Substitute Kyle Taylor swept home the equaliser from inside the box.
The hosts thought that they had found a winner moments later but James Scott's header was disallowed for offside.
Scott then got his goal six minutes from time. He put his head on the end of a cross to seal Exeter City's safe passage into the next round of the competition.
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Story of the match
Exeter started the match with plenty of attacking play but it was the visitors who took a shock lead after 15 minutes. With defender Pierce Sweeney having gone off injured, Crawley took full advantage as Harry Ransom kept the ball alive from a corner kick and Lolos fired in the opener from 12 yards.
The hosts remained lively on the attack and substitute Zak Jules brought a new threat into the game down the left while he was a danger from set-pieces. Only an excellent save from Crawley Town keeper Luca Ashby-Hammond denied him an equaliser.
With five minutes of normal time remaining in the first half, Exeter City's Sam Nombe beat Ashby-Hammond to the ball. He played a pass across the box which found Scott but his powerful shot cannoned off the crossbar.
Crawley Town captain Liam Kelly then thumped the ball narrowly wide from 25 yards before Ashby-Hammond came to The Red Devils' rescue again as he denied Dion Rankine in first half stoppage time.
Exeter put more pressure on the Crawley goal after the interval and Ashby-Hammond was required to pull off a fingertip save to deny Jules. The 22-year-old then had to push Nombe's thunderous effort wide.
At the other end, Crawley Town substitute Ronan Darcy drilled a long range effort narrowly wide before the hosts levelled matters when Taylor expertly found the bottom corner of the net with a shot from inside the box
Scott then almost immediately thought that he had headed The Grecians ahead only to see that the linesman's flag had been raised. The same player was celebrating minutes later though, when he headed home the winner after getting on the end of a cross.
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Man of the match - James Scott
It was far from a classic Exeter City performance at St James Park, but attacker Scott was there when it mattered, heading home the winner to avoid a nail-biting penalty shootout.
The attacker really should have had another goal in the first half when he crashed an effort against the bar but he can take some credit for getting himself in the right areas.
Scott has a year left on his current contract with Exeter City and he will be keen to show Sky Bet League One exactly what he can do this season.
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What is next?
There is little time for either side to rest after this evening's fixture. Exeter are expecting a near-sell-out for their fixture against Blackpool at the weekend. Meanwhile, Crawley are on the road on Saturday as they make the long trip to Salford City in Sky Bet League Two.
Both sides will be keen to make it two wins out of two in league competition this weekend after enjoying a successful opening day.
